J LIBRARY OF CONGRESS! 



UNITED STATES OF 



V 

RICA. 



77 




American Slavery 



AS VIEWED AND ACTED ON 



I PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 



COMPILED FOR THE BOARD OF PUBLICATION. 

BY THE 

Rev. A. T. McGILL D. D. ; 

STATED CLERK OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. 



PHILADELPHIA: 

PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION, 

No. 821 Chestnut Stkebt. 



m 




c 

4 



AMERICAN SLAVERY, 

AS VIEWED AND ACTED ON 

BY THE 

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 

IK THE 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



COMPILED FOR THE BOARD OP PUBLICATION, 

BY T^E 

Rev. A. T.^McGILL, D.D., 

STATED CLERK OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, 




PHILADELPHIA: 
PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION, . 
No. 821 Chestnut Street. 



Mi, 



Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1865, by 

THE TRUSTEES OF THE . 

PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Eastern District 
of Pennsylvania. 



STEREOTYPED BY WESTCOTT & THOMSON. 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



For more than a century, after its introduction, 
slavery seems to have been accepted as a fact, in the 
social and civil condition of this country, which the 
Presbyterian church was called to consider with care- 
ful enlightenment, rather than hasty legislation ; in 
view of her mission, to expound and apply great 
principles, before she ventured upon the enforcement 
of discipline. Accordingly, from the beginning, her 
utterances on the subject have been mature, compre- 
hensive, and consistent. There is not one deliver- 
ance, to be found on record, which we would sup- 
press or conceal. It is true, that, in seeking to mod- 
erate the rage of human passions, and guard against 
fanatical extremes, she has met this and that prevail- 
ing agitation, with special forms of declaration, that 
some have reproached as departure from earlier and 
more formal enunciation of principles : but they only 
need to be brought into one connected view, in the 
light of different times, and the changing circum- 
stances which evoked them, to appear all, but vary- 
ing aspects of the same determination. 

3 



4 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



Four things are always to be discerned, clearly, 
in the result aimed at, as often as this church has 
been brought to express her mind, respecting slavery 
in our land. 1st. The ultimate emancipation of the 
slave, and overthrow of the whole system as an evil 
thing. 2d. The amelioration of the system while it 
lasts, by subjecting to her watchful discipline the re- 
lation of master and slave. 3d. The religious edu- 
cation of slaves and their children, to fit them for the 
enjoyment of liberty, as well as to save their souls. 
4th. The use of regenerated black men as an instru- 
mentality for the evangelization of Africa ; which 
white men cannot achieve, by reason of its chmate. 

I. It is singular, that this last object, and appar- 
ently the most remote and incidental, was the first to 
engage the action of our church ; so far as the record 
evinces. Dr. Samuel Hopkins, pastor at New- 
port, R. I., a pupil and biographer of Jonathan Ed- 
wards ; distinguished in theology as the author of the 
" Hopkinsian system was probably the first man 
in our country, to stir up an organized political ac- 
tion against slavery — succeeding, in 1774, to obtain 
the passage of a law, prohibiting the importation of 
slaves into the colony. In the previous year, 1773, 
he had formed a plan for evangelizing Africa, by 
sending negro missionaries, duly qualified : and had 
enlisted the zealous co-operation of Dr. Ezra Stiles, 
pastor of another church in Newport, and subse- 
quently, the learned and eminent President of Yale 
College. Those two ministers communicated their 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



5 



project, by formal overture, to the Synod of New- 
York and Philadelphia, met at Philadelphia, May, 
1774. The ready interest on which they counted, 
was manifested in the character of the Committee, 
appointed to report on the overture — consisting of 
men who were famous in their day for patriotism 
and philanthropy. All the items gleaned from our 
Minutes, pp. 456 — 8, are as follows : 

" A representation from the Rev. Dr. Ezra Stiles and the 
Rev. Samuel Hopkins, respecting the sending two natives 
of Africa on a mission to propagate Christianity in their 
native country, and a request that the Synod would coun- 
tenance this undertaking by their approbation of it, was 
brought in and read. ' ' 

"The representation and request relative to sending negro 
missionaries to Africa, was taken into consideration, in con- 
sequence of which the subject of negro slavery came to be 
considered, and after much reasoning on the matter Dr. 
Rodgers, Messrs. John Miller, Caldwell, and Montgomery, 
were appointed a committee to bring in an overture on this 
subject on Wednesday morning." 

' ' The committee appointed to prepare an overture on 
the representation from Dr. Stiles and the Rev. Samuel 
Hopkins, and also on the subject of negro slavery, brought 
in a draught, the first part of which being read and 
amended, was approved, and is as follows : 

' ' The Synod is very happy to have an opportunity to 
express their readiness to concur with and assist in a mis- 
sion to the African tribes, and especially where so many 
circumstances concur, as in the present case, to intimate 
that it is the will of God, and to encourage us to hope for 
success. We assure the gentlemen aforesaid, we are ready 
to do all that is proper for us in our station for their en- 
couragement and assistance." 
1 * 



6 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



' ' But some difficulties attending the discussion of the 
second part of that overture, the Synod agree to defer the 
affair to our next meeting." — Minutes, 1774, pp. 456, 458. 

The confusion of the country, (as it was now ap- 
proaching the struggle with Great Britain for inde- 
pendence, in an early stage of which, the Newport 
pastors and people were dispersed, and the projects 
of benevolence set aside, by the calamities of inva- 
sion and war,) must account for the entire silence of 
our courts, in then' subsequent meetings, respecting 
this interesting enterprise. 

II. The second record on the subject of slavery, 
made May 28th, 1787, avowed distinctly the ultimate 
emancipation of the slaves as the policy of the church. 
This may be called the first action on the subject, 
declarative of principles and policy, and it was evi- 
dently a spontaneous action. There is no mention 
of any memorial or overture from any individual or 
body of men — not even from any court of inferior 
degree. The propositions on which the Synod acted 
were " overtured" by her own committee on over- 
tures. They were reported on Saturday, and made 
the order of the day for Monday following; and 
seem to have been acted on with solemn and careful 
deliberation. The inalienable right of the slave to 
freedom, the duty of the church to vindicate this 
right ; and yet the recognition of civil society in its 
power, and the necessity of preparing the slave for 
freedom, by religious education and industrial train- 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



7 



ing, are all distinctly embodied in this action. The 
following is the whole minute, embracing the over- 
ture, and the deliverance of the Synod, viz. : 

"The following was brought in by the committee of 
overtures : 

' ' The Creator of the world having made of one flesh all 
the children of men, it becomes them, as members of the 
same family, to consult and promote each other's happi- 
ness. It is more especially the duty of those who main- 
tain the rights of humanity, and who acknowledge and 
teach the obligations of Christianity, to use such means as 
are in their power to extend the blessings of equal freedom 
to every part of the human race. 

' ' From a full conviction of these truths, and sensible 
that the rights of human nature are too well understood to 
admit of debate, Overtured, that the Synod of New York 
and Philadelphia recommend, in the warmest terms, to every 
member of their body, and to all the Churches and families 
under their care, to do everything in their power consistent 
with the rights of civil society, to promote the abolition of 
slavery, and the instruction of negroes, whether bond or 
free." 

The Synod, taking into consideration the overture con- 
cerning slavery, transmitted by the Committee of Over- 
tures last Saturday, came to the following judgment : 

' ' The Synod of New York and Philadelphia do highly 
approve of the general principles in favour of universal 
liberty, that prevail in America, and the interest which 
many of the States have taken in promoting the abolition 
of slavery ; yet, inasmuch as men introduced from a servile 
state to a participation of all the privileges of civil society, 
without a proper education, and without previous habits 
of industry, may be, in many respects, dangerous to the 
community, therefore they earnestly recommend it to all 
the members belonging to their communion, to give those 



8 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



persons who are at present held in servitude such good 
education as to prepare them for the better enjoyment of 
freedom; and they moreover recommend that masters, 
wherever they find servants disposed to make a just im- 
provement of the privilege, would give them a peeuliwm, 
or grant them sufficient time and sufficient means of pro- 
curing their own liberty at a moderate rate, that thereby 
they may be brought into society with those habits of in- 
dustry that may render them useful citizens ; and, finally, 
they recommend it to all their people to use the most pru- 
dent measures, consistent with the interest and the state 
of society, in the counties where they live, to procure 
eventually the final abolition of slavery in America." — 
Minutes, May 28th, 1787, p. 540. 

This action is also the first taken by the General 
Assembly; as we see in the Minutes of 1793, p. 76, 
when a memorial having been sent to the Mode- 
rator from Warner Mifflin, a member of the Society 
of Friends, it was " Ordered, that the records of the 
General Synod of the year 1787, on the subject of 
slavery, be published among the extracts to be 
printed of the proceedings of this Assembly." 

III. The third distinct action was on the subject 

of communion with slaveholders. 

"A serious and conscientious person, a member of a 
Presbyterian congregation, who views the slavery of the 
negroes as a moral evil, highly offensive to God, and inju- 
rious to the interests of the gospel, lives under the minis- 
try of a person, or amongst a society of people who concur 
with him in sentiment on the subject upon general princi- 
ples, yet for particular reasons hold slaves, and tolerate 
the practice in others. Overtured, ought the former of 
these persons, under the impressions and circumstances 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



9 



above described, to hold Christian communion with the 
latter?" 

"After due deliberation, it was 

"1. Resolved, That as the same difference of opinion 
with respect to slavery takes place in sundry other parts 
of the Presbyterian Church, notwithstanding which they 
live in charity and peace according to the doctrine and 
practice of the Apostles, it is hereby recommended to all 
conscientious persons, and especially to those whom it 
immediately respects, to do the same. At the. same time, 
the General Assembly assure all the Churches under their 
care, that they view, with the deepest concern, any ves- 
tiges of slavery which may exist in our country, and refer 
the Churches to the records of the General Assembly pub- 
lished at different times, but especially to an overture of 
the late Synod of New York and Philadelphia, published 
in 1787, and republished among the extracts from the 
Minutes of the General Assembly of 1793, on that head, 
with which they trust every conscientious person will be 
fully satisfied. 

"2. Resolved) That Mr. Rice and Dr. Muir, Ministers, 
and Mr. Robert Patterson, an Elder, be a committee- to 
draught a letter to the Presbytery of Transylvania, on the 
subject of the above overture." 

"The committee appointed to prepare a draught of a 
letter to the Presbytery of Transylvania, reported a 
draught, which being read and debated for some time, a 
motion was made, Shall this draught of a letter be read 
and debated by paragraphs, or not? The vote being 
taken, the question was carried in the affirmative. The 
consideration of the draught was resumed, and after very 
considerable time spent therein, it was amended and 
adopted, and ordered to be signed, and sent to the Presby- 
tery of Transylvania by their Commissioners. ' ' — Minutes, 
1795, pp. 103, 104. 



10 



AMERICAN SLAVERY, 



The Letter. 

" To our brethren, members of the Presbyterian Church, under the 
care of Transylvania Presbytery. 

Dear Friends and Brethren: — The General As- 
sembly of the Presbyterian Church hear with concern 
from your Commissioners, that differences of opinion, with 
respect to holding Christian communion with those pos- 
sessed of slaves, agitate the minds of some among you, 
and threaten divisions which may have the most ruinous 
tendency. The subject of slavery has repeatedly claimed 
the attention of the General Assembly, and the Commis- 
sioners from the Presbytery of Transylvania are furnished 
with attested copies of these decisions, to be read by the 
Presbytery when it shall appear to them proper, together 
with a copy of this letter, to the several Churches under 
their care. 

' The General Assembly have taken every step which 
they deemed expedient or wise, to encourage emancipa- 
tion, and to render the state of those who are in slavery as 
mild and tolerable as possible. 

' ' Forbearance and peace are frequently inculcated and 
enjoined in the New Testament : 'Blessed are the peace- 
makers : ' ' Let no one do anything through strife and 
vain-glory : ' ' Let each esteem others better than himself. ' 
The followers of J esus ought conscientiously to walk wor- 
thy of their vocation, ' with all lowliness and meekness, 
with long-suffering, forbearing one another, endeavouring 
to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. ' If 
every difference of opinion were to keep men at a distance, 
they could subsist in no state of society, either civil or re- 
ligious. The General Assembly would impress this upon 
the minds of their brethren, and urge them to follow peace, 
and the things which make for peace. 

"The General Assembly commend our dear friends and 
brethren to the grace of God, praying that the peace of 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



11 



God, which passeth all understanding, may possess their 
hearts and minds. 

"Signed by order of the Assembly." — Minutes, 1795, 
p. 104. 

The original draught of this letter has been judi- 
ciously preserved for us by the Editor of the Board 
of Publication; and it appears from a foot-note, 
on page 104, that, in the course of the discussion, 
large paragraphs, fully half of the whole paper, 
were stricken out. One of these, it may well com- 
port with our object to insert here, as showing the 
mind of the Church in what she would not declare ; 
either because it had been already declared substan- 
tially, or because its forms of expression were objec- 
tionable. 

" The General Assembly earnestly recommend to 
all under the care of any of their Presbyteries, who 
may be in possession of slaves, to make conscience 
to bring all of them up in the nurture and admoni- 
tion of the Lord ; to have them taught to read ; to 
impress their minds with the importance of Chris- 
tianity; and to familiarize them to habits of industry 
and order. A neglect of this is inconsistent with 
the character of a Christian master ; but the observ- 
ance might prevent, in great part, what is really the 
moral evil attending slavery; namely, allowing pre- 
cious souls under the charge of masters to perish for 
lack of knowledge. Freedom is desirable, but it 
cannot at all times be enjoyed with advantage ; a pa- 
rent, to set his child loose from all authority, would 



12 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



be doing him the most essential injury. The child 
must first be prepared by education and discipline 
to act for himself, before the restraint of parental 
authority is taken oif. A slave let loose upon soci- 
ety, ignorant, idle, and headstrong, is in a state to 
injure others, and to ruin himself. No Christian 
master can answer for such conduct to his own 
mind. The slave must first be in a situation to act 
properly as a member of civil society, before he can 
advantageously be introduced therein." 

IV. The Brotherhood of all the races in our 
country, free and slave, civilized and savage, distin- 
guished every plan of benevolence, in the Presbyte- 
rian Church, at the opening of the present century. 
" The gospelizing of the Indians — with a plan for 
their civilization," u the instruction of the negroes, 
the poor, and those who are destitute of the means 
of grace" — are the great objects proposed by our 
General Assembly in 1800, when the system was 
first projected, that has now been matured into five 
or six different departments of effective beneficence. 
See Minutes, 1800, pp. 195, 206; also, of 1801, 
p. 228. 

In 1801, it was resolved, that " Mr. John Chavis, 
a black man of prudence and piety, who has been 
educated and licensed to preach by the Presbytery 
of Lexington, in Virginia, be employed as a mis- 
sionary among the people of his own colour, until the 
meeting of the next General Assembly. And that 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



18 



for his better direction in the discharge of duties, 
which are attended with many circumstances of deli- 
cacy and difficulty, some prudential instructions be 
issued to him by the Assembly, governing himself 
by which the knowledge of religion among that peo- 
ple may be made more and more to strengthen the 
order of society. And the Rev. Messrs. Hoge, Alex- 
ander, Logan, and Stephenson, were appointed a com- 
mittee to draught instructions to said Chavis, and 
prescribe his route." — Minutes, p. 229. 

This black missionary, it is said, continued in the 
service, thus directed, several years. 

In 1807, the Presbytery of Union sent an over- 
ture to the General Assembly, for advice in the case 
of J ohn Gloucester, a black man, who had been pre- 
paring for the ministiy, under their direction, but 
was not yet qualified, in ' the usual attainments — 
while the need for his services was loud and urgent. 
In answer, it was Resolved, 1st, That the General 
Assembly highly approve the caution and prudence 
of the Presbytery of Union in this case. 2d, That, 
considering the circumstances of this particular case, 
viz. the evidence of unusual talents, discretion, and 
piety, possessed by John Gloucester ; the good rea- 
son there is to believe that he may be highly useful 
in preaching the gospel among those of his own col- 
our ; and the various difficulties likely to attend a 
farther delay in proceeding in this case, the General 
Assembly did, and hereby do, authorize the Presby- 
tery of Philadelphia to consider the case of John 

2 



14 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



Gloucester ; and, if they think proper, to license him 
to preach the gospel." See Minutes, 1807, p. 381. 

That this black brother was approved in the min- 
istry, and in the highest ecclesiastical fellowship 
with his white brethren, is evident from the fact, 
that he had a seat in the General Assembly of 1817, 
as a regular member, and commissioner from the 
Presbytery of Philadelphia. 

In 1815, the General Assembly began to rebuke 
the buying and selling of slaves, and all cruelty of treat- 
ment — while at the same time reiterating the import- 
ance of preparing the slave for liberty, by careful 
education. 

' ' The committee to which was committed the report of 
the committee to which the petition of some Elders, who 
entertain conscientious scruples on the subject of holding 
slaves, together with that of the Synod of Ohio, concern- 
ing the buying and selling of slaves, had been referred, re- 
ported, and their report being read and amended, is as 
follows, viz. : 

"The General Assembly have repeatedly declared their 
cordial approbation of those principles of civil liberty 
which appear to be recognised by the Federal and State 
governments in these United States. They have expressed 
their regret that the slavery of the Africans, and of their 
descendants, still continues in so many places, and even 
among those within the pale of the Church, and have 
urged the Presbyteries under their care to adopt such 
measures as will secure at least to the rising generation of 
slaves, within the bounds of the Church, a religious edu- 
cation, that they may be prepared for the exercise and en- 
joyment of liberty, when Grod in his providence may open 
a door for their emancipation. The committee refer said 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



15 



petitioners to the printed extracts of the Synod of New 
York and Philadelphia, for the year 1787, on .this subject, 
republished by the Assembly in 1793, and also to the ex- 
tracts of the Minutes of the Assembly for 1795, which last 
are in the following words, viz. [See above.] 

" This is deemed a sufficient answer to the first petition, 
and with regard to the second, the Assembly observe, that 
although in some sections of our country, under certain 
circumstances, the transfer of slaves may be unavoidable, 
yet they consider the buying and selling of slaves by way 
of traffic, and all undue severity in the management of 
them, as inconsistent with the spirit of the gospel. And 
they recommend it to the Presbyteries and Sessions under 
their care, to make use of all prudent measures to prevent 
such shameful and unrighteous conduct.'-' — Minutes, 1815, 
p. 585. 

Again, in approving promptly and heartily the 
organization of the Ajmerican Colonization Society, 
which took place in December, 1816, and which the 
General Assembly has recommended no less than 
eleven times, more or less directly, from 1817 to 
1853, we find the most emphatic recognition of the 
black man as a brother, whose degradation is de- 
plored, and whose elevation to liberty and equality 
is to be attempted, by every legitimate means. 

Thus in 1819, the Assembly said— "The situa- 
tion of the people of colour in this country has fre- 
quently attracted the attention of this Assembly. 
In the distinctive and indelible marks of their colour, 
and the prejudices of the people, an insuperable ob- 
stacle has been placed to the execution of any plan 
for elevating their character, and placing them on a 



16 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



footing with their brethren of the same common 
family. In restoring them to the land of their 
fathers, the Assembly hope that the way may be 
opened, not only for the accomplishment of that ob- 
ject, but for introducing civilization and the gospel 
to the benighted nations of Africa. From the in- 
formation and statements received, the Assembly be- 
lieve that the proposed colony in Africa may be 
made a powerful auxiliary in the efforts which are 
making to abolish the iniquitous traffic in slaves 
carried on in Africa, and happily calculated to lay 
the foundation of a gradual emancipation of slaves 
in our own country, in a legal and constitutional 
manner, and without violating the rights or injuring 
the feelings of our southern brethren. With these 
views the Assembly feel it a duty to recommend the 
American Society for colonizing the free people of 
colour of the United States to the patronage and at- 
tention of the churches under their care, and to be- 
nevolent individuals throughout the Union." — Min- 
utes of 1819, p. 710. 

V. The complete summary of pr inciples and direc- 
tions, given, once for all, in the Act of 1818. 

~No other branch of the church on this continent, 
even the most local in its occupation, North or 
South, and much less any other one coextensive 
with the whole territory of the nation, and repre- 
senting all the diversities of social life in the land, 
has a record so early, and so explicit, and so ample, 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 17 

as this one, upon the subject of slavery. It was 
made, too, at the very point, in time, of the di- 
vergence between the North and the South, which 
brought upon our country the struggle that has 
continued ever since, with greater or less demonstra- 
tion of animosity. Missouri had applied in 1817 
for leave to make a Constitution, with a view to ad- 
mission as a State of the Union; and the exten- 
sion of slavery into new States, was the great ques- 
tion which awakened the most profound solicitude 
among patriots and Christians. It was a time of 
memorable excitement in the political world — so 
great as even then to threaten the disruption of this 
Republic. We may well, therefore, admire the una- 
nimity with which the Presbyterian Church adopted 
the calm, fair, full and fearless deliverance, which is 
as follows : 

{a) "The following resolution was submitted to the As- 
sembly, viz. 

"Resolved, That a person who shall sell as a slave, a 
member of the church, who shall be at the time in good 
standing in the church and unwilling to be sold, acts incon- 
sistently with the spirit of Christianity ; and ought to be 
debarred from the communion of the church. 

"After considerable discussion, the subject was commit- 
ted to Dr. Green, Dr. Baxter, and Mr. Burgess, to prepare 
a report to be adopted by the Assembly, embracing the ob- 
ject of the above resolution, and also expressing the opin- 
ion of the Assembly in general, as to slavery." — Minutes, 
1818, p. 688. 

[The report of the committee was unanimously adopted, and is as 
follows, viz.] 
2 * 



18 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



"The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, 
having taken into consideration the subject of slavery, think 
proper to make known their sentiments upon it to the 
churches and people under their care. 

{b) "We consider the voluntary enslaving of one portion 
of the human race by another, as a gross violation of the 
most precious and sacred rights of human nature ; as ut- 
terly inconsistent with the law of God. which requires us 
to love our neighbour as ourselves, and as totally irrecon- 
cilable with the spirit and principles of the gospel of Christ, 
which enjoin that ' all things whatsoever ye would that men 
should do to you, do ye even so to them. ' Slavery creates 
a paradox in the moral system ; it exhibits rational, account- 
able, and immortal beings in such circumstances as 
scarcely to leave them the power of moral action. It ex- 
hibits them as dependent on the will of others, whether 
they shall receive religious instruction ; whether they shall 
know and worship the true God ; whether they shall enjoy 
the ordinances of the gospel ; whether they shall perform 
the duties and cherish the endearments of husbands and 
wives, parents and children, neighbours and friends ; 
whether they shall preserve their chastity and purity, or 
regard the dictates of justice and humanity. Such are 
some of the consequences of slavery — consequences not im- 
aginary, but which connect themselves with its very exis- 
tence. The evils to which the slave is always exposed of- 
ten take place in fact, and in their very worst degree and 
form ; and where all of them do not take place, as we re- 
joice to say in many instances, through the influence of the 
principles of humanity and religion on the mind of masters, 
they do not — still the slave is deprived of his natural right, 
degraded as a human being, and exposed to the danger of 
passing into the hands of a master who may inflict upon 
him all the hardships and injuries which inhumanity and 
avarice may suggest. 

' ' From this view of the consequences resulting from the 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 19 

practice into which Christian people have most inconsist- 
ently fallen, of enslaving a portion of their brethren of 
mankind — for ' Grod hath made of one blood all nations of 
men to dwell on the face of the earth,' — it is manifestly the 
duty of all Christians who enjoy the light of the present 
day, when the inconsistency of slavery, both with the dic- 
tates of humanity and religion, has been demonstrated, and 
is generally seen and acknowledged, to use their honest, 
earnest, and unwearied endeavours, to correct the errors of 
former times, and as speedily as possible to efface this blot 
on our holy religion, and to obtain the complete abolition 
of slavery throughout Christendom, and if possible through- 
out the world. 

(c) "We rejoice that the Church to which we belong 
commenced as early as any other in this country, the good 
work of endeavouring to put an end to slavery, and that in 
the same work many of its members have ever since been, 
and now are, among the most active, vigorous, and effi- 
cient labourers. We do, indeed, tenderly sympathize with 
those portions of our Church' and our country where the 
evil of slavery has been entailed upon them ; where a great, 
and the most virtuous part of the community abhor slavery, 
and wish its extermination as sincerely as any others — but 
where the number of slaves, their ignorance, and their vi- 
cious habits generally, render an immediate and universal 
emancipation inconsistent alike with the safety and happi- 
ness of the master and the slave. With those who are 
thus circumstanced, we repeat that we tenderly sympathize. 
At the same time, we earnestly exhort them to continue, 
and if possible, to increase their exertions to effect a total 
abolition of slavery. We exhort them to suffer no greater 
delay to take place in this most interesting concern, than a 
regard to the public welfare truly and indispensably de- 
mands. 

{d) "As our country has inflicted a most grievous injury 
upon the unhappy Africans, by bringing them into slavery, 



20 AMERICAN SLAVERY. 

we cannot indeed urge that we should add a second injury 
to the first, by emancipating them in such manner as that 
they will be likely to destroy themselves or others. But 
we do think that our country ought to be governed in this 
matter by no other consideration than an honest and im- 
partial regard to the happiness of the injured party, unin- 
fluenced by the expense or inconvenience which such a re- 
gard may involve. We, therefore, warn all who belong to 
our denomination of Christians, against unduly extending 
this plea of necessity ; against making it a cover for the 
love and practice of slavery, or a pretence for not using 
efforts that are lawful and practicable, to extinguish this 
evil. 

"And we, at the same time, exhort others to forbear 
harsh censures, and uncharitable reflections on their breth- 
ren, who unhappily live among slaves whom they cannot 
immediately set free ; but who, at the same time, are really 
using all their influence, and all their endeavours, to bring 
them into a state of freedom, as soon as a door for it can 
be safely opened. 

"Having thus expressed our views of slavery, and of 
the duty indispensably incumbent on all Christians to 
labour for its complete extinction, we proceed to recom- 
mend, and we do it with all the earnestness and solemnity 
which this momentous subject demands, a particular atten- 
tion to the following points : 

(e) "We recommend to all our people to patronize and 
encourage the Society lately formed, for colonizing in Af- 
rica, the land of their ancestors, the free people of colour 
in our country. We hope that much good may result from 
the plans and efforts of this Society. And while we ex- 
ceedingly rejoice to have witnessed its origin and organiza- 
tion among the holders of slaves, as giving an unequivocal 
pledge of their desires to deliver themselves and their 
country from the calamity of slavery ; we hope that those 
portions of the American union, whose inhabitants are by 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



21 



a gracious providence more favourably circumstanced, will 
cordially, and liberally, and earnestly co-operate with their 
brethren, in bringing about the great end contemplated. 

(/) "We recommend to all the members of our reli- 
gious denomination, not only to permit, but to facilitate 
and encourage the instruction of- their slaves in the princi- 
ples and duties of the Christian religion ; by granting them 
liberty to attend on the preaching of the gospel, when 
they have opportunity ; by favouring the instruction of 
them in the Sabbath-school, wherever those schools can be 
formed ; and by giving them all other proper advantages 
for acquiring the knowledge of their duty both to G-od and 
to man. We are perfectly satisfied, that it is incumbent on 
all Christians to communicate religious instruction to those 
who are under their authority, so that the doing of this in 
the case before us, so far from operating, as some have 
apprehended that it might, as an incitement to insubordi- 
nation and insurrection, would, on the contrary, operate as 
the most powerful means for the prevention of those evils. 

{g) "We enjoin it on all Church Sessions and Presby- 
teries, under the care of this Assembly, to discountenance, 
and as far as possible to prevent, all cruelty of whatever 
kind in the treatment of slaves : especially the cruelty of 
separating husband and wife, parents and children, and 
that which consists in selling slaves to those who will 
either themselves deprive these unhappy people of the 
blessings of the gospel, or who will transport them to 
places where the gospel is not proclaimed, or where it is 
forbidden to slaves to attend upon its institutions. And 
if it shall ever happen that a Christian professor in our 
communion shall sell a slave who is also in communion and 
good standing with our Church, contrary to his or her will 
and inclination, it ought immediately to claim the particu- 
lar attention of the proper Church judicature ; and unless 
there be such peculiar circumstances attending the case as 
can but seldom happen, it ought to be followed, without 



22 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



delay, by a suspension of the offender from all the privi- 
leges of the Church till he repent, and make all the repa- 
ration in his power to the injured party." — Minutes, 1818, 
p. 692. 

From 1818 to 1835 this clear and comprehensive 
declaration of the church, so unanimously adopted, 
seemed to settle the question ; and we find no farther 
action on the records, excepting notices of good suc- 
cess in the religious instruction of the slaves, till 
this latter year 1835, when the increasing agitation 
over the country, and the importunity of memorial- 
ists, led the Assembly to appoint a committee, to 
whom all papers on the subject should be referred, 
and who were instructed to report to the next Gen- 
eral Assembly. This committee consisted of " Dr. 
Miller, Dr. Beman, Dr. Hoge, Mr. Dickey and Mr. 
"Witherspoon." 

In 1836, the committee reported accordingly; and 
offered a brief paper for adoption by the Assembly — 
to the purport, that slavery was so much a civil in- 
stitution, and a subject of so intense an agitation, on 
which churches represented in the Assembly were 
so greatly divided, and in acting on which so little 
benefit could enure to the slaves themselves, that 
" it was not expedient for the Assembly to take any 
fhrther order in relation to this subject." 

The Rev. James H. Dickey submitted a minority 
report of great length; in which it was urgently de- 
clared, that a dangerous change of views, since 1818, 
had been coming into the Church, that slavery " be- 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



23 



gins to claim a lodgment, not by indulgence merely, 
but as of right ;" and after portraying the evils, the 
encroachments, and the perils of the system, both to 
church and state, called on the Assembly to de- 
nounce it as a " heinous sin," to be censured by the 
church, and to be abandoned by every Christian 
entangled, " without delay." 

Both these reports were spread at full length on 
the Minutes, and were made the order of the day 
for Monday, a full week after. When the order was 
called, Mr. McElhenny, of Lexington Presbytery, 
Va., moved to postpone both reports, and offered 
as a substitute the following: "Whereas, the subject 
of Slavery is inseparably connected with the laws of 
many States of this Union, in which it exists under 
the sanction of said laws, and of the Constitution of 
the United States ; — And, whereas, Slavery is recog- 
nised in both the Old and New Testament as an ex- 
isting relation, and is not condemned by the author- 
ity of God, therefore, Resolved, That the General 
Assembly have no authority to assume or exercise 
jurisdiction in regard to the existence of Slavery." 
While this motion was under consideration, Dr. 
James Hoge moved an indefinite postponement of 
the whole subject, which was carried, by a vote of 
154 yeas, to 87 nays, and 4 who declined voting. 
The form of this motion is as follows : 

"Inasmuch as the Constitution of the Presbyterian 
Church, in its preliminary and fundamental principles, de- 
clares that no Church judicatory ought to pretend to make 



24 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



laws, to bind the conscience, in virtue of their own author- 
ity : and as the urgency of the business of the Assembly, 
and the shortness of the time during which they can con- 
tinue in session, render it impossible to deliberate and de- 
cide judiciously on the subject of slavery in its relations to 
the Church ; therefore, resolved, that this whole subject be 
indefinitely postponed."— Minutes, 1836, pp. 247, 248, 272, 
273. 

This resolute postponement, the convulsion of that 
Old and New School controversy on doctrine and 
policy, which now submerged all other agitations, 
the compact and homogeneous feeling which resulted 
from the separation that ensued, and the energy 
with which the Church girded herself aneAV for the 
apostolic responsibilities upon her, all contributed to 
give unity and rest in the Presbyterian Church 
for nine years; while nearly all other evangelical 
churches were falling to pieces over the question of 
slavery. 

The reproach of ultra conservatism, cast upon the 
Old School, is unfair. The first deliberate and de- 
termined postponement of action on Slavery, as we 
here see, was by an Assembly in which the New 
School influence predominated — that of 1836. But 
this was by no means a party vote: and neither 
branch of the Presbyterian Church ever shunned 
the responsibility of meeting the question fairly, at 
every new phase, however diverse the tendency 
came to appear, after the division of 1838. AVe 
come now to find the Old School General Assembly, 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



25 



instead of standing still upon the noble record, which 
was already so complete, facing new issues, and the 
most complicated forms, in which an overheated 
public sentiment, North and South, could press the 
vexing problem on her deliberations. 

VI. The action of 1845, moderating between ex- 
tremes of radical abolitionism on the one hand, and 
pro-slavery fanaticism on the other. 

A large number and variety of memorials, nearly 
all on one side, with greater or less vehemence of 
anti-slavery sentiment, came up to the General As- 
sembly of this year, from different quarters of the 
Church ; and it was resolved, that a special com- 
mittee of seven should be appointed to consider and 
report on these papers. Messrs. N. L. Rice, John 
C. Lord, Alex. T. McGill, Drury Lacy, N. H. Hall, 
ministers — and H. H. Leavitt and James Dunlap, 
elders — constituted this committee. The chairman 
was then a pastor in the city of Cincinnati. Of the 
remaining six, four were Xorthern men, and two 
Southern. After long and careful consultation, the 
following report was submitted, and adopted by the 
Assembly : 

"The committee to whom were referred the memorials on 
the subject of slavery, beg leave to submit the foUovring re- 
port : 

(a) t; The memorialists may be divided into three classes, 
viz. 

" 1. Those which represent the system of slavery, as it 
exists in these United States, as a great evil, and pray this 
3 



2G 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



General Assembly to adopt measures for the amelioration 
of the condition of the slaves. 

" 2. Those which ask the Assembly to receive memorials 
on the subject of slavery, to allow a full discussion of it, 
and to enjoin upon the members of our Church, residing in 
States whose laws forbid the slaves being taught to read, 
to seek by all lawful means the repeal of those laws. 

" 3. Those which represent slavery as a moral evil, a hei- 
nous sin in the sight of God, calculated to bring upon the 
Church the curse of God, and calling for the exercise of 
discipline in the case of those who persist in maintaining or 
justifying the relation of master to slaves. 

(6) "The question which is now unhappily agitating and 
dividing other branches of the Church, and which is pressed 
upon the attention of the Assembly by one of the three 
classes of memorialists just named, is, whether the holding 
of slaves is, under all circumstances, a heinous sin, calling 
for the discipline of the Church. 

(c) "The Church of Christ is a spiritual body, whose ju- 
risdiction extends to the religious faith and moral conduct 
of her members. She cannot legislate, where Christ has 
not legislated, nor make terms of membership which he 
has not made. The question, therefore, which this Assem- 
bly is called to decide, is this : Do the Scriptures teach that 
the holding of slaves, without regard to circumstances, is a 
sin, the renunciation of which should be made a condition 
of membership in the Church of Christ ? 

(d) " It is impossible to answer this question in the af- 
firmative, without contradicting some of the plainest decla- 
rations of the word of God. That slavery existed in the 
days of Christ and his apostles is an admitted fact. That 
they did not denounce the relation itself as sinful, as incon- 
sistent with Christianity : that slaveholders were admitted 
to membership in the churches organized by the apostles ; 
that whilst they were required to treat their slaves with 
kindness, and as rational, accountable, immortal beings, 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



27 



and, if Christians, as brethren in the Lord, they were not 
commanded to emancipate them ; that slaves were required 
to be ' obedient to their masters according to the flesh, with 
fear and trembling, with singleness of heart as unto Christ, ' 
are facts which meet the eye of every reader of the New 
Testament. This Assembly cannot, therefore, denounce 
the holding of slaves as necessarily a heinous and scandal- 
ous sin, calculated to bring upon the Church the curse of 
G-od, without charging the apostles of Christ with conniv- 
ing at sin, introducing into the Church such sinners, and 
thus bringing upon them the curse of the Almighty. 

(e) "In so saying, however, the Assembly are not to be 
understood as denying that there is evil connected with sla- 
very. Much less do they approve those defective and op- 
pressive laws by which, in some of the States, it is regu- 
lated. Nor would they by any means countenance the traffic 
in slaves for the sake of gain ; the separation of husbands 
and wives, parents and children, for the sake of ' filthy 
lucre,' or for the convenience of the master; or cruel treat- 
ment of slaves, in any respect. Every Christian and phi- 
lanthropist certainly should seek by all peaceable and law- 
ful means, the repeal of unjust and oppressive laws, and 
the amendment of such as are defective, so as to protect 
the slaves from cruel treatment by wicked men, and secure 
to them the right to receive religious instruction. 

(/) ' ' Nor is the Assembly to be understood as counte- 
nancing the idea that masters may regard their servants as 
mere property, and not as human beings, rational, account- 
able, immortal. The Scriptures prescribe not only the du- 
ties of servants, but of masters also, warning the latter to 
discharge those duties, 1 knowing that their Master is in 
heaven, neither is there respect of persons with him.' 

{g) "The Assembly intend simply to say, that since 
Christ and his inspired apostles did not make the holding 
of slaves a bar to communion, we, as a court of Christ, 
have no authority to do so ; since they did not attempt to 



28 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



remove it from the Church by legislation, we have no au- 
thority to legislate on the subject. We feel constrained 
further to say, that however desirable it may be to amelio- 
rate the condition of the slaves in the Southern and West- 
ern States, or to remove slavery from our country, these 
objects, we are fully persuaded, can never be secured by 
ecclesiastical legislation. Much less can they be attained 
by those indiscriminate denunciations against slaveholders, 
without regard to their character or circumstances, which 
have to so great an extent characterized the movements of 
modern abolitionists, which so far from removing the evils 
complained of, tend only to perpetuate and aggravate them. 

"The apostles of Christ sought to ameliorate the condi- 
tion of slaves, not by denouncing and excommunicating 
their masters, but by teaching both masters and slaves the 
glorious doctrines of the gospel, and enjoining upon each 
the discharge of their relative duties. Thus only can the 
Church of Christ, as such, now improve the condition of 
the slaves in our country. 

{h) "As to the extent of the evils involved in slavery, 
and the best methods of removing them, various opinions 
prevail, and neither the Scriptures nor our constitution au- 
thorize this body to prescribe any particular course to be 
pursued by the churches under our care. The Assembly 
cannot but rejoice, however, to learn that the Ministers and 
Churches in the slaveholding States are awaking to a 
deeper sense of their obligation to extend to the slave pop- 
ulation generally the means of grace, and many slavehold- 
ers not professedly religious favour this object. We earn- 
estly exhort them to abound more and more in this good 
work. We would exhort every believing master to remem- 
ber that his Master is also in heaven, and in view of all the 
circumstances in which he is placed, to act in the spirit of 
the golden rule ; * Whatsoever ye would that men should 
do to you, do ye even so to them. ' 

"In view of the above stated principles and facts, 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



29 



11 Resolved, 1. That the G-eneral Assembly of the Pres- 
byterian Church in the United States was originally organ- 
ized, and has since continued the bond of union in the 
Church, upon the conceded principle that the existence of 
domestic slavery, under the circumstances in which it is 
found in the southern portion of the country-, is no bar to 
Christian communion. 

" 2. That the petitions that ask the Assembly to make 
the holding of slaves in itself a matter of discipline, do vir- 
tually require this judicatory to dissolve itself, and aban- 
don the organization, under which, by the Divine blessing, 
it has so long prospered. The tendency is evidently to sep- 
arate the northern from the southern portion of the 
Church ; a result which every good citizen must deplore, 
as tending to the dissolution of the Union of our beloved 
country, and which every enlightened Christian will oppose 
as bringing about a ruinous and unnecessary schism be- 
tween brethren who maintain a common faith. 

"The yeas and nays being ordered, were recorded." 
[Yeas 168, Nays 13, Excused 4.]— Minutes, 1845, pp. 16-18. 

The foreign correspondence of the same Assembly 
contains large paragraphs, which illustrate the views 
and feelings of that body, and were approved with 
equal or greater unanimity. (Committee on Foreign 
Correspondence — Messrs. McGill, Hope, Bayless, 
Sinclair, and Thorpe.) The following is extracted ' 
from the letter to the Free Church of Scotland : 

"We are gratified exceedingly with the spirit of can- 
dour and inquiry which pervades your document on the 
subject of slavery, and leads us to the hope that we shall 
soon be able to acquaint our noble brethren in Scotland 
with the true position of the Presbyterian Church in this 
country. 
3 * 



80 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



' ' That responsibility for the evils of American slavery 
is shared by our brethren of Great Britain to some extent — 
that you are restrained from peremptory decision on the 
question of our particular duty, by ignorance of facts and 
circumstances, and that you appreciate so much the diffi- 
culties of our position, as to admit that a different course 
from that of the British churches may be justified among 
us for the present, are generous sentiments ; and enlight- 
ened Christian moderation, which prove to us that the 
Free Church of Scotland is as much ennobled by elevation 
above the prejudices that surround her, as by a memorable 
exodus from the oppression that enthralled her. Could 
we allay excitement, and restrain impatience, and- correct 
misunderstanding among our brethren of the British 
churches, we have no doubt that our course in this most 
delicate and difficult subject would be so entirely approved 
that no intimation of ultimate severance on this account 
would any more alloy the happiness which your correspond- 
ence affords. 

" Our modes of thinking in this country have not been 
moulded by anything like a civil establishment of religion ; 
by any such connexion of church and state as induces a re- 
ciprocal legislation between the civil and the ecclesiastical 
commonwealth. The state never interferes with us as a 
church, either to cherish our doctrines or to control our 
privileges ; and she expects in return that we meddle not 
with her civil and domestic regulations ; one of which is 
slavery. Every man in the church here has a political right 
and power. As a citizen, he has the utmost opportunity 
for contending against every social, civil, moral wrong, 
which the institutions of this country may ordain or allow. 
But, as a member of the church, he belongs to a kingdom 
not of this world, that has always been prospered in the 
apostolic and reforming times, by separation in counsel 
from ' the powers that be,' and which, while it fails not to 
witness against the sins of the land, would rather, as in 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



81 



your own illustrious example, resign even the guardianship 
of these powers than permit civil and spiritual enactments 
either to clash or mingle together. 

"We learn our duty, dear brethren, not only from the 
peculiar circumstances of Providence in our political insti- 
tutions, but from the great charter of the church itself. 
Here we have a religion of great principles, which it be- 
hooves us to promulgate with all possible industry, energy, 
and faithfulness — principles, which in the end will over- 
throw every form of oppression that is incompatible with 
the inalienable rights of man. Beyond the assertion of 
these principles, and their vigorous application to all the 
existing-relations of society around us, we think it not only 
inexpedient, but unwarrantable and presumptuous, for any 
ecclesiastical court to pronounce either dogma or precept. 
We dare not contract the bond of union among brethren 
more than Christ has contracted it, nor exclude from the 
pale of our communion, members that merely hold a rela- 
tion which Christ and his apostles did not declare, among 
the many specific declarations against prevailing sins, to 
be incompatible with Christian fellowship. Slavery ex- 
isted then as well as now, with at least equal atrocity ; and 
in our opposition to its evils, we desire to treat it as they 
did, rather than reduce their broad precepts to that mi- 
nute kind of legislation, which engenders fanaticism, dis- 
tracts and enfeebles the church, and defeats the eventual 
triumph of the very principles it proposes to enforce. 

"Enclosed, we send you a copy of a preamble and reso- 
lutions on this subject, which we have just adopted with 
great unanimity and deliberate firmness ; from which you 
will learn our determination to abide by the example of 
Christ and his apostles — to address ourselves, in the spirit 
of the gospel, more than ever, to the work of meliorating 
evils we cannot redress — improving a relation we cannot 
dissolve, and disseminating among masters and slaves that 
pure gospel, whose heavenly influence never fails, when free 



32 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



from the extravagance of man, to purify every institution 
which God approves, and demolish every system that is 
opposed to the honour of his name, and the best interests 
of the human race." — Minutes, p. 44. 

Extract from the letter to the General Assembly 
of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. 

' ' You refer us to what you call ' an evil which has long 
disfigured our civil polity ; ' and submit to our considera- 
tion your resolution on the subject of slavery. We re- 
ceived your communication on this subject with all the 
frankness and kindness that have dictated your whole let- 
ter. There is no disposition on our part either to repel the 
counsel of brethren abroad, or evade responsibility and dis- 
cussion on this momentous question at home. We enclose 
to you a preamble and resolutions which we have just 
adopted, with a nearly unanimous vote, in which you will 
see, that we are not contented to slumber amidst the evils 
connected with slavery, nor to shun investigation of our duty 
to the bottom. 

"You are strangers, we presume, in a great measure, to 
the principal cause of the aggravations which attend do- 
mestic slavery in this country, such as the severity of par- 
ticular laws enacted in the slaveholding States, and the ex- 
treme sensibility with which many of our fellow-citizens 
there refuse to receive advice, and entertain discussion. 
That cause is mainly the vehemence and fanatical intoler- 
ance, with which many, in what are called the free States, 
urge on the South instant abolition, without regard to cir- 
cumstances, consequences, or even warrant from the word 
of Grod itself. We hope that a better mind, and one in ac- 
cordance with the paper we send you, will soon pervade 
every part of our otherwise harmonious country ; and suf- 
fer that ' knowledge of Christianity, ' you mention, to pen- 
etrate all relations existing among us ; and exert its native, 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



SB 



free, transforming power, over every institution, which 
either necessity may suffer, or wisdom perpetuate among 
men." — Minutes, 1855, p. 46. 

VII. Refusal to make any further deliverance. 

Notwithstanding the clear and decided testimony 
of 1845, in so many different forms, memorials on 
the subject of slavery were sent up to the Assembly 
of 1846, in consequence of an impression upon cer- 
tain minds, that the action of 1845 was inconsistent 
with that of 1818. After a due reference and care- 
ful consideration of these memorials, the following 
record was made, viz. : 

" Our church has from time to time, during a period of 
nearly sixty years, expressed, its views on the subject of 
slavery. During all this period it has held and uttered 
substantially the same sentiments. Believing that this 
uniform testimony is true, and capable of vindication from 
the word of Grod, the Assembly is at the same time clearly 
of the opinion that it has already deliberately and solemnly 
spoken on this subject with sufficient fulness and clearness. 
Therefore, 

" Resolved, That no further action upon this subject is at 
present needed." 

This minute was adopted by a vote of 119 to 33, 
the yeas and nays being recorded. 

"The following resolution was then offered by the Rev. 
E. M. White, and was adopted, [without division :] 

" Resolved, That in the judgment of this House, the ac- 
tion of the General Assembly of 1845 was not intended to 
deny or rescind the testimony often uttered by the G-eneral 
Assemblies previous to that date." — Minutes, 1846, pp. 
206, 207. 



34 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



As a further exponent of the mind of that Assem- 
bly, the following extract from another letter to the 
General Assembly of the Irish Presbyterian Church, 
is of interest and value. It is from the pen of the 
Rev. Dr. R. J. Breckinridge, chairman, that year, 
of the Committee on Foreign Correspondence : 

"As it regards the subject of negro slavery, now tole- 
rated in about one-half of the confederate States of this 
Union, it is, perhaps, due to ourselves and to you, seeing 
the deep interest you manifest in the subject, and the ob- 
viously erroneous opinions you have formed, both of it and 
our relations to it, that we should make a somewhat more 
distinct statement than is contained in our former letter. 

" The relations of negro slavery, as it exists in the States 
that tolerate it, are twofold. Chiefly, it is an institution 
purely civil, depending absolutely upon the will of the civil 
power in the States respectively in which it exists ; sec- 
ondly, it has various aspects and relations, purely or mainly 
moral, in regard to which the several States permit a 
greater or less degree of intervention. Touching the 
former aspect of the subject, this General Assembly has no 
sort of power any more than we should have, if we met in 
Great Britain, over the institutions of Hereditary Monar- 
chy, or Aristocracy, or a thousand other things, which, as 
republicans, wp unanimously condemn, but which you, as 
loyal subjects, cordially approve. Touching the latter as- 
pect of the subject, and especially as regards the conduct 
of ministers and members of our own church, we are of 
course, deeply concerned : and we beg to assure you, that 
since the foundation of our church on this continent to the 
present moment, it has always' recognized and tried to dis- 
charge the duties which God, in his providence, has cast 
upon it, in this regard. That we have done all we could, 
much less all we should have done, we will no more ven- 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



35 



ture to assert, than we suppose you would contend that 
you had fully discharged your duties, during the two past 
centuries, to the millions of Popish idolaters who dwell 
around you. What we say is, that we think we compre- 
hend our duty, in this respect, and that, from the begin- 
ning, our church has openly recognized it and tried to per- 
form it, both to the masters and to their slaves : and we 
add, that it seems to be wholly impossible for our brethren in 
foreign parts to understand what we can do, or should do, 
better than we do ourselves. 

"As to the institution of slavery in itself considered, and 
founding our judgment upon the condition in which it has 
been exhibited, first and last, in most of the States of this 
Union ; the Presbyterian Church in the United States has 
never failed to manifest a profound interest, nor shrunk 
from bearing a clear and constant testimony. If we have 
the misfortune to differ from you in regard to any part of 
the subject, of course we regret it. But you can hardly 
expect us to change our ancient, deliberate, and settled tes- 
timony on a subject, for a long time and very carefully ex- 
amined ; nor does it appear to us to be for edification, that 
our sister churches in foreign countries, should steadily 
and strenuously condemn us in regard to matters they can- 
not possibly understand as well as we do, nor possibly feel 
in regard to them so deep and solemn a responsibility as 
we do. We have therefore only to say, that our fathers 
from the beginning, as we ourselves now, and the church 
constantly, have held and testified, that slavery as it has 
long existed, and does still exist in many of the States of 
this Union, cannot scripturally be made a term of Christian 
or ministerial communion ; and that on the other hand, it 
is an institution which this church never did, and does not 
t now set itself to defend. This is the substance, very briefly, 
of the testimony borne from generation to generation by 
the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America 
upon this point. 



36 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



"As we have already said, our purpose simply is to 
make a statement by which you may understand exactly 
how this church has always viewed this subject ; you will 
then act as your sense of duty and propriety will dictate. 
We have of course no idea of discussing at large a question 
of this sort with you — much less of defending, in a brief 
letter to you, our conduct or our faith, our Church or our 
country, against the calumnies of ignorant or corrupt men, 
either in your country or ours. It is because we love and 
respect you, that, under all the circumstances of the case, 
we feel constrained to say a word on the subject ; and it is 
because we are fully convinced of the truth of our opinions, 
the righteousness of our testimony, and the propriety of 
our conduct, that we have felt it needful to do nothing 
more than state distinctly our true position. For the rest, 
one thing is bej^ond all controversy ;. notwithstanding our 
unworthiness, our Grod has smiled on us, and has so blessed 
and enlarged us, that in about a century and a half he has 
brought us from a condition so feeble, that we had but a 
single minister of the gospel, to be, perhaps, the most nu- 
merous body of orthodox Presbyterians on the face of the 
earth ; and by his grace, we believe we are more united this 
day than we ever were before, and as fully resolved, by 
the help of Grod, to go forward in the glorious work to 
which, as we trust, we have been divinely called." — Min- 
utes, p. 223. 

In 184:8, another letter was received by the Gen- 
eral Assembly, sitting at Baltimore, from the Irish 
Church, in answer to the foregoing letter of 1846 ; 
severe almost to acrimony in its tone ; and yet, read 
and answered — the letter and answer being both 
published in the Appendix to the Minutes of that 
year. The following is the portion relating to 
slavery, as reported by Dr. John M. Krebs, Chair- 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



37 



man of the Committee on Foreign Correspondence, 
and adopted by the Assembly, viz. : 

" With respect to the matter to which the greater part 
of your letter is devoted, we would simply observe that we 
have heretofore expressed to you our position ; and we 
would refer you to our former statements on that subject. 
If we have declined any further discussion with you, in re- 
lation to slavery in the United States, it is not because we 
shrink from any discussion of the question of slavery, or as 
to the question of our own duty in relation to it. We 
trust that we are influenced neither by timidity, nor by any 
apprehension that we cannot sustain the conclusions we 
have deliberately adopted. All that we mean to say is, 
that, as the subject in all its bearings is before our eyes, as 
we have anxiously examined the word of Glod to discover 
the principles which it discloses, as we have endeavoured 
to pursue a course which we believe to be not only strictly 
conformable to the example and teaching of the Bible, 
but to have been approved of Heaven, in the actual condi- 
tion of slavery as it has been hitherto influenced by the 
uniform testimonies of our church, both in the treatment 
of slaves and in the progress of emancipation ; and as 
there is nothing in the arguments you employ, whether 
they involve your interpretation of the Scripture, or your 
impressions with respect to the aspects of this institution 
as it exists in the Southern part of this country, or to our 
own relations to it, with which we have not been entirely 
familiar, long before you deemed it needful to call our at- 
tention to it, we do not regard it for edification to engage 
in a controversy, or to protract the discussion with your 
Assembly on this business." — Minutes, p. 176. 

It should be added here, that in 1851, another 
letter on this subject was received from the General 
Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, 

4 



38 AMERICAN SLAVERY. 

and read; and a special committee, consisting of 
Messrs. Leyburn, Cheeseman, Van Kensselaer, and 
Martien, was appointed to answer it, " at their dis- 
cretion.'' Still another came from the same body- 
to the General Assembly of 1854, and though pe- 
culiarly offensive in its expressions, was read, and re- 
ferred to the Committee on Foreign Correspondence, 
of which Dr. Gardiner Spring was Chairman. The 
Committee recommended that this letter "be not 
answered and this recommendation was adopted. — 
Minutes of 1854, p. 41. 

But the most formal determination of the General 
Assembly to decline further agitation of the subject 
at home, was adopted by the Assembly of 1849, sit- 
ting at Pittsburgh, Pa. It was on a report from 
the Committee on Bills and Overtures; and the 
minute is as follows, viz. : 

"A Memorial from the Presbytery of Chilicothe, pray- 
ing this General Assembly not only to declare it to be a sin, 
but to enjoin upon all inferior courts, a course of discipline 
which will remove it from our church. Also, a Memorial 
from the Presbytery of Coshocton, asking the Assembly to 
appoint a committee to collect and report to the next As- 
sembly, statistics on this subject, and digest a plan of abo- 
lition to be adopted by our church. Also, a Memorial 
from the Presbytery of Erie, asking the Assembly to alter 
sundry terms and passages in the Act of 1845, relating to 
slavery." 

In answer to these Memorials, the Committee offer the 
following resolutions for adoption by this Assembly, (which 
were adopted) : 

"1. That the principles of the Presbyterian Church on 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



39 



the subject of slavery are already set forth in repeated dec- 
larations, so full and so explicit as to need no further ex- 
position. 

' ' 2. That, in view of the civil and domestic nature of 
this institution, and the competency of secular legislatures 
alone to remove it ; and in view of the earnest inquiry and 
deep agitation on the subject, which we now observe in one 
or more commonwealths of our country where slavery ex- 
ists, it be considered peculiarly improper and inexpedient 
for this General Assembly to attempt or propose*measures 
in the work of emancipation. 

"3. That all necessary and proper provision is already 
made, for the just exercise of discipline, upon those who 
neglect or violate the mutual duties of master and servant ; 
and the General Assembly is always ready to enforce these 
provisions, when the unfaithfulness of any inferior court 
is made manifest, by record, or appeal, or complaint. 

"4. We rejoice to believe that the action of former 
Assemblies, so far from aiding or allowing the iniquitous 
oppression of man by his fellow man, has been steadily 
promoting amelioration in the condition of the slaves, by 
winning the confidence of masters, in our freedom from fa- 
naticism, and by stimulating the slaveholder and his pas- 
tor alike, to labour in the religious instruction of the 
blacks. 

"5. That it be enjoined on Presbyteries situated in 
slaveholding States to continue and increase their exer- 
tions for the religious instruction of slaves, and to report 
distinctly, in their annual Narratives to the General As- 
sembly, the state of religion among the coloured popula- 
tion. ''—Minutes of 1849, p. 254. 

These resolutions were adopted with great una- 
nimity. Four members protested against them, and 
the protest was admitted to record "without an- 
swer." 



40 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



In 1850, the subject was again urged by over- 
tures, but was promptly laid on the table ; the mind 
of the church being now firmly resolved to tiy in 
peace what results could be gained, by a faithful ap- 
plication of the principles and policy that had been 
so often declared and so fully promulgated. 

VIII* Results of all the previous action, and con- 
sequent refusal to agitate the subject any more. 

Peace for sixteen years on the most intensely agi- 
tating subject of the age — arising from no compro- 
mise beyond what these documents reveal, was itself 
a grand result, to signalize that visible unity in Zion, 
which her Builder wills, and gloriously constructs, 
out of the most diverse civilizations and tendencies. 
But these sixteen years were a seed-time of more 
industrious occupation for the interests of oppressed 
humanity, than any other equal period of time, in 
any branch of the church, since the days of the 
apostles. 

In accomplishing these results, and much more 
that has no record on earth, every arm of the church 
was vigorously exerted. The Board of Domestic 
Missions called to the administration of its great in- 
terests a man who had earned his eminence in the 
church mainly as a preacher to the slaves — the Rev. 
C. C. Jones, D. D. During the whole period of his 
energetic service in that office, immense efforts were 
made to reach the black population in slavery, with 
the benefit of that guidance which his unequalled 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



41 



wisdom in teaching the negro could furnish. Every 
number of the Home and Foreign Record of that 
time bears witness to the vigour and success with 
which missionaries were multiplied and money ex- 
pended by this Board, under the management of 
that eminent Georgian, upon the fields where the 
Federal armies have been so recently setting free 
these catechumens and their children. 

His successors in this office continued the policy, 
until it grew to such proportions, that, besides the 
Western Committee, located at Louisville, a South- 
western Committee was organized by the Assembly 
at New Orleans — an extension of work which would 
not have been thought of, but for the teeming plan- 
tations, to which the Presbyterian Church had now 
a mission of unparalleled interest — alike, in the 
effectual door thrown open, and the prosperity with 
which God was blessing the effort. 

The Committees, appointed by the last General 
Assembly to superintend " the religious instruction 
of the Freedmen," already find thousands of the 
emancipated seeking instruction from Presbyterian 
teachers with intelligent discrimination — declining 
both Methodist and Baptist instruction, for that 
which will teach them and their children what they 
had been already taught by means of Dr. Jones's 
" Cateeliism for the Oral Instruction of Coloured Per- 
sons." Who can measure the benefits, to humanity 
and liberty both, revealed in this one fact, as a fair 
exemplification of what the Presbyterian Church 
4 * 



42 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



had done, to enable this generation to rejoice in uni- 
versal emancipation, without one convulsion of hor- 
ror, in the savage excesses of black men, which so 
many had feared ? 

Of course, the Board of Publication, also, is now 
reaping what was sown so liberally, in scattering as; 
dew-drops over all the South, so many elementary 
tracts for the religious instruction of the slaves — in- 
cluding the Catechism already referred to, and Dr. 
Jones's " Suggestions on the religious Instruction of 
the Negroes" and two series of "Plantation Ser- 
mons" This noble arm of our influence, for many 
years before the war began, had been expending on 
colportage alone over the South, more every year 
than the whole South contributed of means to the 
colportage fund. 

By a singular providence, the first three Secretaries 
of this Board were brought to it from slave States, 
where the condition and capacities of the slave were 
so well understood: and the unquestionable ardour 
and ability of each in his office told with incalculable 
advantage upon the elevation of the negro. And up 
to the very time the war began, the present Secretary, 
having travelled extensively in the South, in order 
to comprehend its wants, and see that the resources 
of the Board, so lavishly expended in that direction, 
were wisely used, had, with the full sanction of the 
Executive Committee, sustained the policy of his 
predecessors, and aimed at even greater exertions for 
the benefit of black men.- 




AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



43 



So, also, the Board of Education had laboured, 
with similar zeal and fidelity. The Ashmun Insti- 
tute is a monument of sagacious and devoted inter- 
est in behalf of the negro.' For nine years past, the 
Board of Education has nurtured this Institution 
with contributions, varying in amount from three 
to five hundred dollars a year — not to speak of the 
steady favour, with which it has cherished the in- 
fant cause of religious learning; on the coast of Af- 
rica — especially in the Republic of Liberia. 

Thus, it may well be claimed, at every point of 
view, that if there be one thing on which, more 
than anything else, the whole energies of our church 
were converged for twenty years before this war be- 
gan, it was the welfare of slaves in the territory of 
these United States ; in that very way which has 
proved most effectual in preparing them for the 
great result God is working out, at present — and 
which this church aimed at from the beginning — 
freedom, with qualifications to use and enjoy it. 

The harvest is now on hand. The mighty provi- 
dence of God is breaking off the fetters of the slave. 
And what has the 'Presbyterian Church been doing 
to prepare the benighted and degraded bondmen for 
this jubilant change? What, in comparison with 
the futility of her utmost effort, if, instead of bind- 
ing the sections together in 1845, she had been sit- 
ting, like the Methodist Church at that very time, 
to divide her interests, North and South, in final 
and bitter dissolution ? It is not too much, perhaps, 



44 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



to assert, that universal emancipation, as ordered 
now, will escape the horrors, which had always been 
associated with it, in the fears of wise philanthro- 
pists, mainly by means of the inculcation, which in 
1818 was ordained, and in 1845 was guarded and 
guided, by the wisdom of the Presbyterian Church. 

Let us glean the evidence, as it came to us every 
year, by authority of the General Assembly. We 
begin with 1846. 

" Another cheering token in the state of our church is 
the growing interest manifested in behalf of a portion of 
our population, which in every part of our land has been 
too much overlooked by Christians, in their efforts to pro- 
mote the Redeemer's cause. We allude to the coloured 
people of this country. In the Southern States especially, 
means more enlarged, systematic, and efficient than have 
ever before been employed, are now in active operation, to 
diffuse among them the knowledge and blessings of the 
great salvation. Several of our ministers devote their 
whole time and strength to this department of labour, and 
through G-od's blessing with most cheering success. Nor 
are such efforts confined to those who devote themselves 
exclusively to this work : the ministers and members of our 
church generally have enlisted in this work of faith and la- 
bour of love with a zeal unprecedented in any period of our 
church's history, and which the Assembly hope will still 
increase from year to year." — Minutes, 1846, p. 222. 

In 1847, the following is reported in the same 
way to the churches : 

"In reviewing the past, we find that notice has been 
taken by several previous Assemblies of the interest mani- 
fested in the religious instruction of the coloured popula- 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



45 



tion of our country. The reports received this year, justify 
the belief that this interest has greatly increased since the 
meeting of the last Assembly. Almost all the Presbyteries 
covering the ground where this portion of our population 
are found in the greatest numbers, refer to the subject, and 
speak of efforts to supply them with the means of grace, as 
being decidedly on the advance. The following are speci- 
mens of the communications we have received on this sub- 
ject. The Presbytery of South Alabama say : ' ' Perhaps with- 
out a solitary exception, our ministers are devoting a con- 
siderable part of their labours to the benefit of the coloured 
population. It is a field which we all love to cultivate ; 
and to some, the great Head of the Church is intimating 
an abundant harvest. " " Most of our pastors, ' ' say the 
Presbytery of Charleston, "devote a part of their time to 
the exclusive service of the blacks, and in some instances 
with the most pleasing success. A scheme is now in agita- 
tion, with the full consent of the Presbytery, for establish- 
ing an African church in the city of Charleston. ' ' The 
Presbytery of Georgia remark, in relation to one of their 
number who devotes his whole time to this work: "Du- 
ring the year he has been blessed with a revival in one part 
of his field of labour. Fourteen professed conversion, 
and were added to the church." Another brother, in an- 
other part of our bounds, reports " the conversion and recep- 
tion into the church to which he ministers of eight coloured 
persons. ' ' And the Presbytery of Hopewell speak of their 
churches generally, as cheerfully yielding the half of their 
pastor's services to this department of labour. They also 
.express the belief that several churches will soon be 
erected for the exclusive accommodation of the coloured 
people, and that the field will be occupied as missionary 
ground by at least one of their number, who is deeply in- 
terested in the work. Many other Presbyteries have ad- 
dressed us in substantially the same language ; and we re- 
cord these facts as going to encourage the hope that a bet- 



46 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



ter day is about to dawn upon the interests of this long 
neglected class of our people." — Minutes, p. 408. 

In 1848, the Assembly said: 

"The interest manifested in the instruction of the col- 
oured population of our country, which former Assemblies 
have noticed, seems not to have declined, but rather in- 
creased. With scarcely an exception, the Presbyteries 
covering that portion of our country where this class of 
our population are found in the greatest numbers, speak 
of the interest felt in this subject as gaining strength." — 
Minutes, p. 168. 

In 1849, the narrative, though unusually brief 
and general, mentions thirty-seven Presbyteries, 
which had shared revivals of religion during the 
year ; and of these sixteen were Southern Presbyte- 
ries. It adds : 

"Of the fruits of these gracious visitations some have 
been gathered from our coloured population. The gospel 
is preached to them, and Grod makes it effectual. We are 
glad to learn that their spiritual condition is exciting a 
deeper and more extensive interest than heretofore, and 
engages special labour. Several of our ministers are ex- 
clusively devoted to promote their welfare, and most of 
our pastors in our Southern Presbyteries give themselves 
habitually to the same holy work." — Minutes, p. 389. 

In 1850, the narrative, though even briefer than 
that of the preceding year, mentions, among the 
thirty-eight Presbyteries which had been specially 
revived, twenty of them Southern Presbyteries ; 
and adds : 

' ' The spirit for doing good is the general and increasing 
spirit of the Church. It has led to seek after opportuni- 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



47 



ties and means : and to our no small joy we have to notice, 
that our ministers and brethren manifest a readiness to en- 
ter upon any work of Christian beneficence, especially any 
which aims at spiritual and eternal good. An example of 
this is to be found in the attention given to religious in- 
struction of the coloured people in the southern part of the 
country. Many of our ministers there have one service on 
the Sabbath especially devoted to this object ; thus carrying 
into execution the recommendation of the last General As- 
sembly." — Minutes, p. 604. 

In 1851, the record is the following, viz.: 

" The labours of pastors and churches in behalf of the 
coloured population within our bounds, and especially in the 
Southern States, have been prosecuted with zeal and en- 
ergy. Systematic efforts are made for the instruction and 
spiritual improvement of the multitudes of the African 
race who have been placed by Providence within our reach 
and influence in this country ; and these efforts have been 
attended with the happiest results, and with evident tokens 
of the Divine blessing. The welfare of the children of Af- 
rica in their native land has also been a subject of profound 
interest to our churches. The desire to give to them the 
gospel, with its attendant blessings, is becoming more and 
more intense, and manifests itself in the high regard and 
cordial sympathy with which the operations of the Ameri- 
can Colonization Society are regarded by the people of God 
in this part of his heritage." — Minutes of 1851, p. 161. 

In 1852, the record is : 

' ' The Assembly notice with pleasure the efforts made to 
benefit the coloured population in the Southern section of 
the country. The multitudes of this class of people, from 
their singular condition, as brought to gospel privileges by 
a peculiar providence, constitute at home a mission field of 
vast importance and of most inviting character. With few 



48 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



exceptions, ample provisions are made for their religious 
instruction. To them the gospel is preached ; large num- 
bers of them are gathered into Sabbath-schools, and Grod 
has signally owned and blessed the labours of faithful mis- 
sionaries and teachers among them, in bringing many of 
them into the household of faith. ' ' — Minutes of 1852, p. 358. 

In 1853, we have the following explicit and 
memorable narrative : 

"We must not fail, in a narrative like this, to call the 
attention of the churches to a subject that, for many rea- 
sons not necessary to mention in detail, is now occupying 
a very deep interest in the public mind. We refer to the 
moral and religious condition of our coloured population. 
Particular reference is had to this matter in many of the 
reports, especially from the Southern and South-western 
Presbyteries. It is a gratifying fact that all through that 
section of our country, means, more enlarged, systematic 
and efficient, than have ever been employed, are now using 
with the most cheering and encouraging success to impart 
religious instruction to the slaves. Several of our minis- 
ters devote a great portion of their time and strength to 
this department of labour. And there are not wanting 
many remarkable examples on the part of masters and mis- 
tresses and members in our churches, who have given them- 
selves to a zeal and devotion in this self-denying service, 
that show most convincingly that it is a work that lies near 
the hearts of our Southern brethren, and that they are not 
backward to undertake. Pastors feel that the servant as 
well as the master is a portion of their charge. In Caro- 
lina, Georgia, and Alabama, the most of their hearers and 
of their communicants in a large number of the churches 
are slaves. The largest and most promising Sunday- 
schools in several of the Southern towns, are filled with 
coloured children, together, in many cases, with their par- 
ents, who are associated with them in receiving the same 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



49 



religious instruction. We allude to these interesting facts 
as going to show, that both ministers and people in the 
South have enlisted in this work of faith, and labour of 
love, with a most commendable and unprecedented zeal, 
and with a spirit worthy of imitation by all who wish the 
promotion of the real welfare of the African race. Let us 
rejoice in these things as the harbinger of a better day 
about to dawn on this benighted and long-neglected class 
of our fellow-men." — Minutes, p. 600. 

The same Assembly, acting on a report from the 
Committee on the Board of Education, passed the 
following resolution, viz. : 

" That the establishment of a high-school for the use and 
benefit of the free coloured population of this country, 
meets the cordial approbation and recommendation of this 
Assembly ; with the understanding that it shall be wholly 
under the supervision and control of the Presbytery or 
Synod within whose bounds it may be located, thus secur- 
ing such an education as shall promote the usefulness and 
happiness of this class of our people." — Minutes, p. 454. 

In 1854, we have the same great history con- 
tinued, in the following paragraph from the Narra- 
tive, adopted and published : 

' ' The reports sent to us from the Presbyteries covering 
the portion of the church in which there is a large slave 
population, reveal the gratifying fact that the zeal hitherto 
manifested on behalf of the religious welfare of this class, 
instead of abating, is evidently growing more ardent and 
active. In their houses of worship, provision at once spe- 
cial and liberal is made for the accommodation of the col- 
oured people, so that they may enjoy the privileges of the 
sanctuary in common with the whites. Besides this, nearly 
all our ministers hold a service in the afternoon of the Sab- 



50 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



bath, in which the exercises are particularly adapted to 
their capacities and wants. In some instances, ministers 
are engaged in their exclusive service — not ministers of in- 
ferior abilities, but such as would be an ornament and a 
blessing to the intelligent, cultivated congregations of the 
land. In a still larger number of instances, the pastor of 
a church composed of the two classes, inasmuch as the 
blacks form the more numerous portion, devotes to them 
the greater share of his labours, and finds among them the 
most pleasing tokens of Grod's smiles upon his work. Be- 
sides the preaching of the word to which they have free ac- 
cess, in many cases a regular system of catechetical instruc- 
tion, for their benefit, is pursued, either on the Sabbath at 
the house of worship, or during the week on the planta- 
tions where they reside. Thus we give thanks unto Gi-od, 
our common Father, that he has inspired the hearts of our 
brethren, in the parts of our church referred to, with love 
to the souls of this numerous race, and that he has opened 
among them a wide and effectual door of usefulness. At 
the same time, reminding these brethren that the work is 
great, and is yet far from its full accomplishment, we 
would exhort and encourage them to persevere and abound 
more and more therein, assuring them of the sympathies 
and prayers of the entire church for them in their self-de- 
nying labours. The position taken by our church with 
reference to the much agitated subject of slavery, secures 
to us unlimited opportunities of access to master and slave, 
and lays us under heavy responsibilities before God and the 
world, not to neglect our duty to either." — Minutes, p. 183, 4. 

In 1855, the record is as follows : 

"The prosperity granted our church has diversified and 
increased the duties of our church. Extending from the 
lakes to the Ghilf of Mexico, and from the Atlantic to the 
Western Ocean, in a large portion of our territory slavery 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



51 



exists. Nor has that people, whom the Presbyterian 
church found here in a state of bondage, been contemned 
for their degradation, nor neglected as to their spiritual 
interests. With scarcely an exception, the reports from 
Presbyteries of the South speak in Christian tenderness 
of this lowly, but far from undeserving class of our popu- 
lation, and of the efforts everywhere put forth to improve 
their social and spiritual condition. 

"In few, if any of our Southern States, are laws en- 
forced forbidding that slaves be taught to read. Usually, 
as far as among any other class, Sabbath-schools are sus- 
tained for their instruction. In cities and larger towns, 
the slaves have, and they prefer to have, their own 
churches. In rural districts and villages, our pastors de- 
vote a part of every Sabbath to their special instruction ; 
while, on extended plantations, every facility is offered for 
the preaching of the gospel, and other methods of religious 
teaching. And we believe ourselves to be speaking the 
language of sober truth, when we say there are in our 
Southern churches thousands of slave owners, whose desire 
and effort is to prepare those whom an inscrutable Provi- 
dence has cast upon their care, for a state of liberty and 
self-control they cannot yet enjoy; and whose fervent 
prayer is, that G-od would hasten the day of safe and salu- 
tary freedom to men of every clime." — Minutes, p. 307. 

Besides this remarkable language for a General 
Assembly sitting at Nashville, Tennessee, the same 
body passed the following : 

" Resolved, That this G-eneral Assembly has heard with 
pleasure of the design and practical effort on the part of 
the Presbytery of New Castle to establish a school, in 
which coloured young men of piety may receive a thorough 
classical and theological education, fitting them for the 
work of the ministry, and for teaching among the desti- 
tute thousands of this country, and the millions of Africa. 



52 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



u Resolved, That we regard this work as an important 
preliminary work, aiming at the highest good of the Afri- 
can race wherever found ; and hereby express our cordial 
approbation of it, and recommend our churches cheerfully 
and liberally to co-operate in this work of faith and labour 
of love."— Minutes, p. 277. 

In 1856, we find in the Narrative, the following, 
viz. : 

"The Presbyteries of Georgia, West Hanover, Harmony, 
Bethel, Tuscaloosa, East Alabama, South Alabama, and 
indeed nearly all the Presbyteries of the Southern country, 
report increased attention and success in the great work of 
instructing and Christianizing the coloured population, and 
in many instances most encouraging results are specified. 
In some of our churches the number of coloured communi- 
cants and constant worshippers exceed that of the whites ; 
and delightful accounts are furnished of the conversion of 
the slaves. Many planters have built churches upon their 
estates, and employed able and faithful ministers to labour 
among the servants, and this work is chiefly retarded by the 
want of preachers. No church in the land has freer ac- 
cess to this very important field of Christian enterprise 
than our own, and it is very desirable that more be done. ' ' — 
Minutes, p. 542. 

In 1857, "Efforts in behalf of the people of 
colour, in that portion of the country where they 
live in a subordinate condition" — and revivals 
" among the people of colour — sixty in one church 
in the city of Charleston being added on profes- 
sion — are embodied in the Narrative, among special 
reasons for thanks to God." — Minutes, p. 48. 

In 1858, the Assembly informs the churches — 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



53 



" how the coloured people at the South are receiving 
everywhere the fostering care of our ministers and 
churches" — how converts were added — "including 
all ages and all classes of the people ; the rich, the 
poor, the bond, the free, the young, the old." — Min- 
utes, p. 303. 

In 1859, the record is in the following words — 
brief, but very significant : 

"Again, the reports which have come up to us show an 
increasing attention to the spiritual interests of the coloured 
people. From the narratives of the Southern Presbyteries 
it appears that the gospel is specially preached to them by 
nearly all their pastors. We have before us abundant evi- 
dence that the gospel as thus preached has not been unat- 
tended by the blessing of God — has been in many instances 
received by them in simplicity of faith, and has been made 
to them the power of G-od unto salvation. It is our priv- 
ilege to state the interesting and cheering fact, that eleven 
Presbyteries report revivals among the coloured people, 
some of them revivals in several churches. One church 
has for eighteen months enjoyed a continuous revival ; and, 
as the fruits of that revival, as an expression of their grat- 
itude to the Lord for the great things which he has done 
for them, they have contributed a considerable sum to send 
the gospel to their benighted brethren in Africa." — Min- 
utes, p. 554. 

The year 1860 is the solitary year of the sixteen, 
in which we fail to find the remarkable record dis- 
tinctly made. 

But we find it in 1861 ; even after throes of con- 
vulsion had come alike on church and state. Thus 
we read on the Minutes, p. 352 : 

5 * 



54 AMERICAN SLAVERY. 

" Nor must we omit to mention the growing success re- 
ferred to by a number of the Presbyteries, in evangelizing 
the coloured people in our Southern and South- Western 
States. These reports speak of increased attention to this 
class, and of corresponding results. Besides opportunities 
to hear the word under its regular ministrations among 
their white brethren, special missionaries, in several of our 
Presbyteries, devote their whole time to this class ; and one 
Presbytery takes notice of a particular attention paid to 
family instruction by means of Jones's Catechism, among 
the families of the coloured people themselves. ' ' 

Such is a record of results from the principles and 
policy of the Presbyterian Church, touching slavery. 
The paragraphs here cited were not from the pens 
of Southern men, as a general, or even ordinary 
thing. Of the fifteen statements we have gathered, 
all of them of course sanctioned by the Assembly, 
eleven were penned by Northern men, who hap- 
pened to be chairmen of the Committee on the Nar- 
rative. They are such men as Drs. Wm. D. Snocl- 
grass, Samuel McFarren, Willis Lord, I. S. Spencer, 
Arthur Burtis, John Goldsmith, Symmes C. Henry, 
S. M. .Andrews, D. X. Junkin, Win. M. Scott, and 
C. K. Imbrie. Drs. Wm. L. Breckinridge, J. L. 
Kirkpatrick, L. J. Halsey, and P. J. Sparrow, are 
the others. 

IX. The loyalty of the Presbyterian Church in 
her attitude towards the rebellion of the South. 

In 1861, the Presbyteries of the South mostly 
failed to be represented at the General Assembly. 
Many members, of unquestionable and even ardent 



AMEEICAN SLAVERY. 55 

loyalty to the Federal Government, thought it un- 
wise, at that time, to take any action on the state of 
the country. Hence, when a resolution was at first 
offered by Dr. Spring, of New York, " that a spe- 
cial committee should be appointed to inquire into 
the expediency of the Assembly making some ex- 
pression of their devotion to the Union of these 
States, and their loyalty to the Government," it was 
laid on the table, by a vote of 123 to 102. Soon 
afterwards it was taken up again, and made an or- 
■ der of the day for a particular time ; when, after an 
animated discussion, it was referred to a special com- 
mittee of nine. Dr. Musgrave brought in a report 
from the majority, and Dr. W. C. Anderson a re- 
port from the minority of the committee. This mi- 
nority report, after amendment, on motion of Dr. 
Edwardg, was adopted, by a vote of 156 to 66 ; and 
is as follows : 

" Gratefully acknowledging the distinguished bounty and 
care of Almighty God toward this favoured land, and also 
recognizing our obligations to submit to every ordinance of 
man for the Lord's sake, this General Assembly adopt the 
following resolutions : 

" Resolved, 1. That in view of the present agitated and 
unhappy condition of this country, the first day of July 
next be hereby set apart as a day of prayer throughout our 
bounds; and that on this day ministers and people are 
called on humbly to confess and bewail our national sins ; 
to offer our thanks to the Father of light for his abundant 
and undeserved goodness towards us as a nation ; to seek 
his guidance and blessing upon our rulers, and their coun- 
sels, as well as on the Congress of the United States about 



56 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



to assemble ; and to implore him, in the name of Jesus 
Christ, the great High Priest of the Christian profession, 
to turn away his anger from us, and speedily restore to us 
the blessings of an honourable peace. 

" Resolved, 2. That this General Assembly, in the spirit 
of that Christian patriotism which the Scriptures enjoin, 
and which has always characterized this church, do hereby 
acknowledge and declare our obligations to promote and 
perpetuate, so far as in us lies, the integrity of these 
United States, and to strengthen, uphold, and encourage, 
the Federal Government in the exercise of all its functions 
under our noble Constitution : and to this Constitution in 
all its provisions, requirements, and principles, we. profess ' 
our unabated loyalty. 

' ' And to avoid all misconception, the Assembly declare 
that by the terms 'Federal Government,' as here used, is 
not meant any particular administration, or the peculiar 
opinions of any particular party, but that central adminis- 
tration, which being at any time appointed and inagurated 
according to the forms prescribed in the Constitution of 
the United States, is the visible representative of our na- 
tional existence. ' ' 

In 1862, the Rev. Dr. R. J. Breckinridge offered 
a paper in the General Assembly, which was thor- 
oughly discussed, and adopted by a vote of 206 to 
20. It is as follows : 

' ' The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in 
the United States of America, now in session at Columbus, 
in the State of Ohio : 

' ' Considering the unhappy condition of the country in " 
the midst of a bloody civil war, and of the church agitated 
everywhere, divided in sentiment in many places, and 
openly assailed by schism in a large section of it ; consider- 
ing, also, the duty which this chief tribunal, met in the 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



57 



name and by the authority of the glorified Saviour of sin- 
ners, who is also the Sovereign Ruler of all things, owes to 
him, our Head and Lord, and to his flock committed to our 
charge, and to the people whom we are commissioned to 
evangelize, and to the civil authorities who exist by his ap- 
pointment ; do hereby, in this deliverance, give utterance 
to our solemn convictions and our deliberate judgment, 
touching the matters herein set forth, that they may serve 
for the guidance of all over whom the Lord Christ has 
given us any office of instruction, or any power of govern- 
ment. 

' ' I. Peace is amongst the very highest temporal blessings 
of the church, as well as of all mankind ; and public order 
is one of the first necessities of the spiritual as well as the 
civil commonwealth. Peace has been wickedly superseded 
by war, in its worst form, throughout the whole land ; and 
public order has been wickedly superseded by rebellion, 
anarchy, and violence, in the whole Southern portion of 
the Union. All this has been brought to pass in a disloyal 
and traitorous attempt to overthrow the National Govern- 
ment by military force, and to divide the nation contrary 
to the wishes of the immense majority of the people of the 
nation, and without satisfactory evidence that the majority 
of the people in whom the local sovereignty resided, even 
in the States which revolted, ever authorized any such pro- 
ceeding, or ever approved the fraud and violence by which 
this horrible treason has achieved whatever success it has 
had. This whole treason, rebellion, anarchy, fraud, and 
violence, is utterly contrary to the dictates of natural reli- 
gion and morality, and is plainly condemned by the re- 
vealed will of God. It is the clear and solemn duty of the 
National Government to preserve, at whatever cost, the 
national Union and Constitution, to maintain the laws in 
their supremacy, to crush force by force, and to restore the 
reign of public order and peace to the entire nation, by 
whatever lawful means that are necessary thereunto. And 



58 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



it is the bounden duty of the people who compose this 
great nation, each one in his several place and degree, to 
uphold the Federal Government, and every State Govern- 
ment, and all persons in authority, whether civil or mili- 
tary, in all their lawful and proper acts, unto the end herein 
before set forth. 

■ ' II. The church of Christ has no authority from him 
to make rebellion, or to counsel treason, or to favour an- 
archy in any case whatever. On the contrary, every fol- 
lower of Christ has the personal liberty bestowed on him 
by Christ, to submit, for the sake of Christ, according to 
his own conscientious sense of duty, to whatever govern- 
ment, however bad, under which his lot may be cast. But 
while patient suffering for Christ's sake can never be sin- 
ful, treason, rebellion, and anarchy may be sinful — most 
generally, perhaps, are sinful ; and, probably, are always 
and necessarily sinful, in all free countries, where the 
power to change the government by voting, in the place of 
force, which exists as a common right, constitutionally se- 
cured to the people, who are sovereign. If, in any case, 
treason, rebellion, and anarchy can possibly be sinful, they 
are so in the case now desolating large portions of this na- 
tion, and laying waste great numbers of Christian congre- 
gations, and fatally obstructing every good word and work 
in those regions. To the Christian people scattered 
throughout those unfortunate regions, and who have been 
left of Grod to have any hand in bringing on these terrible 
calamities, we earnestly address words of exhortation and 
rebuke, as unto brethren who have sinned exceedingly, and 
whom Grod calls to repentance, by fearful judgments. To 
those in like circumstances who are not chargeable with 
the sins which have brought such calamities upon the land, 
but who have chosen, in the exercise of their Christian lib- 
erty, to stand in their lot and suffer, we address words of 
affectionate sympathy, praying Grod to bring them off con- 
querors. To those in like circumstances, who have taken 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



59 



their lives in their hands, and risked all for their country 
and for conscience' sake, we say, we love such with all our 
heart, and bless Grod such witnesses were found in the time 
of thick darkness. We fear, and we record it with great 
grief, that the church of Grod, and the Christian people, 
: to a great extent, and throughout all the revolted States, 
have done many things that ought not to have been done, 
and have left uncfl^e much that ought to have been done, 
in this time of trial, rebuke, and blasphemy ; but concern- 
ing the wide schism which is reported to have occurred in 
many Southern Synods, this Assembly will take no action 
at this time. It declares, however, its fixed purpose, un- 
der all possible circumstances, to labour for the extension 
and the permanent maintenance of the church under its 
care, in every part of the United States. Schism, so far 
as it may exist, we hope to see healed. If that cannot be, 
it will be disregarded. 

" III. We record our gratitude to Grod for the prevailing 
unity of sentiment and general internal peace, which have 
characterized the church in the States that have not re- 
volted, embracing a great majority of the ministers, con- 
gregations, and people under our care. It may still be 
called, with emphasis, a loyal, orthodox, and pious church ; 
and all its acts and works indicate its right to a title so no- 
ble. Let it strive for divine grace to maintain that good 
report. In some respects, the interests of the church of 
God are very different from those of all civil institutions. 
Whatever may befall this, or any other nation, the Church 
of Christ must abide on earth, triumphant even over the 
gates of hell. It is, therefore, of supreme importance that 
the church should guard itself from internal alienations 
and divisions, founded upon questions and interests that 
are external as to her, and which ought not by their ne- 
cessary workings to cause her fate to depend on the fate of 
things less important and less enduring than herself. Dis- 
turbers of the church ought not to be allowed : especially 



60 AMERICAN SLAVERY. 

disturbers of the church in States that never revolted, or 
that have been cleared of armed rebels : disturbers who, 
under many false pretexts, may promote discontent, dis- 
loyalty, and general alienation, tending to the unsettling 
of ministers, to local schisms, and to manifold trouble. 
Let a spirit of quietness, of mutual forbearance, and of 
ready obedience to authority, both civ^ and ecclesiastical, 
illustrate the loyalty, the orthodoxy, and the piety of the 
church. It is more especially to ministers of the gospel, 
and amongst them, particularly to any whose first impres- 
sions had been, on any account, favourable to the terrible 
military revolution which has been attempted, and which 
Grod's providence has hitherto so singularly rebuked ; that 
these decisive considerations ought to be addressed. And 
in the name and by the authority of the Lord Jesus we 
earnestly exhort all who love Grod or fear his wrath, to 
turn a deaf ear to all counsels and suggestions that tend 
towards a reaction favourable to disloyalty, schism, or dis- 
turbance either in the church or in the country. There is 
hardly anything more inexcusable connected with the 
frightful conspiracy against which we testify, than the con- 
duct of those office-bearers and members of the church 
who, although citizens of loyal States, and subject to the 
control of loyal Presbyteries and Synods, have been faith- 
less to all authority, human and divine, to which they owed 
subjection. Nor should any to whom this Deliverance may 
come^ail to bear in mind that it is not only their outward 
conduct concerning which they ought to take heed ; but it 
is also, and especially their heart, their temper, and their 
motives, in the sight of God, and towards the free and be- 
neficent civil government which he has blessed us withal, 
and toward the spiritual commonwealth to which they are 
subject in the Lord. In all these respects, we must all 
give account to Grod in the great day. And it is in view 
of our own dread responsibility to the J udge of quick and 
dead that we now make this Deliverance." — Minutes, p. 
624. 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



61 



In 1863, a member of the General Assembly, Mr. 
T. H. Nevin, moved, that a committee be appointed 
to raise the national flag over the church in which 
the Assembly were sitting, at Peoria, 111. After a 
motion to lay on the table was lost, by a vote of 93 
to 130, a committee of seven was appointed, on mo- 
tion of Dr. J. M. Lowrie, to consider the whole sub- 
ject. Two reports were brought in — one by Dr. 
Lowrie for the majority, and one by Dr. Humphrey 
for the minority, both of which were adopted ; the 
former, by a vote of 180 to 20 : and the latter, by a 
vote of 206 to 2. 

Dr. Lowrie's paper is as follows : 

"The Committee to whom was referred the resolution 
which proposed to raise the flag of the United States upon 
the building in which the Assembly is now convened, and 
to report in respect to the ' State of the Country,' respect- 
fully present the following report : 

" Your Committee believe that the design of the mover 
of the original resolution, and of the large majority, who 
apparently are ready to vote for its adoption, is simply to 
call forth from the Assembly a significant token of our sym- 
pathy with this government, in its earnest efforts to sup- 
press a rebellion, that now for over two years has wickedly 
stood in armed resistance to lawful and beneficent authority. 
But as there are many among us who are undoubtedly pa- 
triotic ; who are willing to express any righteous principle 
to which this Assembly should give utterance, touching 
the subjection and attachment of an American citizen to the 
Union and its institutions ; who love the flag of our coun- 
try, and rejoice in its successes by sea and by land ; and 
who yet do not esteem this particular act a testimonial of 
loyalty entirely becoming to a church court, — and as many 
6 



62 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



of these brethren, by the pressing of this vote, would be 
placed in a false position, as if they did not love the Union, 
of which that flag is the beloved symbol, .your Committee 
deem themselves authorized, by the subsequent direction 
of the Assembly, to propose a different action to be 
adopted by this venerable court. 

"It is well known, on the one hand, that the General 
Assembly has ever been reluctant to repeat its testimonies 
upon important matters of public interest; but, having 
given utterance to carefully considered words, is content to 
abide calmly by its recorded deliverances. Nothing that 
this Assembly can say can more fully express the wicked- 
ness of the rebellion that has cost so much blood and 
treasure ; can declare in plainer terms the guilt before God 
and man, of those who have inaugurated, or maintained, 
or countenanced, for so little cause, this fratricidal strife ; 
or can more impressively urge the solemn duty of the gov- 
ernment to the lawful exercise of its authority, and of the 
people, each in his several place, to uphold the civil au- 
thorities, to the end that law and order m&y again reign 
throughout this entire nation — than these things have al- 
ready been done by previous Assemblies. Nor need this 
body declare its solemn rebukes towards those ministers 
and members of the church of Christ, who have aided in 
bringing on and sustaining these immense calamities ; or 
tender our kind sympathies to those who are overtaken by 
troubles they could not avoid, and who mourn and weep in 
secret places, not unseen by the Father's eye ; or reprove 
all wilful disturbers of the public peace ; or exhort those 
that are subject to our care, to the careful discharge of 
every duty tending to uphold the free and beneficent gov- 
ernment under which we are, and this specially for con- 
science' sake, and as in the sight of God — more than in 
regard to all these things, the General Assembly has made 
its solemn deliverances, since these troubles began. 

"But, on the other hand, it may be well for this Gene- 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



63 



ral Assembly to reaffirm, as it now solemnly does, the 
great principles to which utterance has already been given. 
We do this the more readily, because our beloved church 
may thus be understood to take her deliberate and well- 
chosen stand, free from all imputations of haste or excite- 
ment ; because we recognise an entire harmony between 
the duties of the citizen, (especially in a land where the 
people frame their own laws, and choose their own rulers, ) 
and the duties of the Christian to the great Head of the 
Church ; because, indeed, least of all persons should Chris- 
tian citizens even seem to stand back from their duty, 

• when bad men press forward for mischief ; and because a 
true love for our country, in her times of peril, should for- 
bid us to withhold an expression of our attachment, for 
the insufficient reason that we are not accustomed to re- 
peat our utterances. 

"And because there are those among us who have 
scruples touching the propriety of any deliverance of a 
church court respecting civil matters, this Assembly would 
add, that all strifes of party politics should indeed be ban- 
ished from our ecclesiastical assemblies, and from our pul- 
pits ; that Christian people should earnestly guard against 
promoting partizan divisions ; and that the difficulty of ac- 
curately deciding, in some cases, what are general and 
what party principles, should make us careful in our judg- 
ments ; but that our duty is none the less imperative to 
uphold the constituted authorities, because minor delicate 
questions may possibly be involved. Rather, the sphere 
of the church is wider and more searching, touching mat- 
ters of great public interest, than the sphere of the civil 

. magistrate, in this important respect — that the civil author- 
ities can take cognizance only of overt acts ; while the law 
of which the church of Grod is the interpreter, searches 
the heart, makes every man subject to the civil authority 
for conscience' sake, and declares that man truly guilty, 
who allows himself to be alienated, in sympathy and feel- 



64 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



ing, from any lawful duty, or who does not conscientiously 
prefer the welfare, and especially the preservation of the 
government, to any party or partizan ends. Officers may 
not always command a citizen's confidence ; measures may 
by him be deemed unwise ; earnest, lawful efforts may be 
made for changes he may think desirable ; but no causes 
now exist to vindicate the disloyalty of American citizens 
towards the United States government. 

"The General Assembly would not withhold from the 
government of the United States, that expression of cor- 
dial sympathy which a loyal people should offer. We be- 
lieve that God has afforded us ample resources to suppress 
this rebellion, and that, with his blessing, it will ere long, 
be accomplished. We would animate those who are dis- 
couraged by the continuance and fluctuations of these 
costly strifes, to remember and rejoice in the supreme 
government of our God, who often leads through perplex- 
ity and darkness. We would exhort to penitence for all 
our national sins, to sobriety and humbleness of mind be- 
fore the Great Ruler of all, and to constant prayerfulness 
for the Divine blessing ; and we would entreat our people 
to beware of all schemes implying resistance to the lawfully 
constituted authorities, by any other means than are recog- 
nised as lawful to be openly prosecuted. And as this As- 
sembly is ready to declare our unalterable attachment and 
adherence to the Union established by our fathers, and 
our unqualified condemnation of the rebellion ; to proclaim 
to the world the United States, one and undivided, as our 
eountry ; the lawfully chosen rulers of the land; our rulers ; 
the government of the United States, our civil govern- 
ment ; and its honoured flag, our flag ; and to affirm that 
we are bound, in the truest and strictest fidelity, to the 
duties of Christian citizens under a government that has 
strown its blessings with a profuse hand, your Committee 
recommend that, as the trustees of this church, concurring 
in the desire of many members of this Assembly, have dis- 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



65 



played from this edifice the American flag, the symbol of 
national protection, unity, and liberty, the particular ac- 
tion contemplated in the original resolution be no further 
urged upon the attention of this body." 

"The paper of Dr. Humphrey is as follows : 

"The G-eneral Assembly of 1861 adopted a minute on the 
state of the church and the country. The Assembly of 
1862 uttered a more formal and comprehensive deliverance. 
In the meantime, a certain number, perhaps the larger 
portion of the Presbyteries and Synods, have expressed 
their judgments on the same subject. This G-eneral As- 
sembly is persuaded that the office -bearers and members 
of this church, within the Presbyteries represented here, 
are, in a remarkable degree, united in a strict and true al- 
legiance to the Constitution and Government of the United 
States ; and that they are, as a body, loyal both to the 
church and the civil government as ordinances of God. 

"This General Assembly contents itself, on that part of 
the subject, by enjoining upon all the people of God, who 
acknowledge this church as their church, to uphold, accord- 
ing as God shall give them strength, the authority of the 
Constitution and laws of the land, in this time of supreme 
national peril. Bat this Assembly would most distinctly 
and solemnly inculcate upon all its people the duty of hum- 
bly confessing before God the great unworthiness, and the 
many sins of the people of this land, and of acknowledging 
the holiness and justice of the Almighty in the present vis- 
itation. He is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his 
works. We exhort our brethren to seek the gift of the 
Holy Ghost, by prayer and confession and repentance, so 
that the anger of the Lord may be turned away from us, 
and that the spirit of piety may become not less predomi- 
nant and vital in the churches than the spirit of an awak- 
ened patriotism. 

"And this Assembly, connecting the experience of our 
present trials with the remembrance of those through which 



66 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



the church has passed, does now recall and adopt the sen- 
timents of our fathers in the Church of Scotland, as these 
are expressed for substance in the Solemn League and 
Covenant of 1643. 'And because the people of this land 
are guilty of many sins and provocations against God, and 
his Son Jesus Christ, as is manifest by our present dis- 
tresses and dangers, the fruits thereof, we profess and de- 
clare before God and the world our unfeigned desire to be 
humbled for our own sins and the sins of the people, espe- 
cially that we have not, as we ought, valued the inestima- 
ble benefit of the gospel, nor laboured for the purity and 
power thereof; and that we have not, as we ought, en- 
deavoured to receive Christ in our hearts, nor to walk 
worthy of him in our lives, which are the cause of other 
sins and transgressions so much abounding among us ; and 
our true and unfeigned purpose, desire, and endeavour for 
ourselves, and all others under our charge, both in public 
and private, in all duties we owe to God and man, to 
amend our lives, and each one to go before another in the 
example of a real reformation, that the Lord may turn 
away his wrath and heavy indignation, and establish the 
church and the land in truth and peace.' — Minutes, p. 
56-60. 

X. Slavery as now viewed by the Presbyterian 
Church. 

In the General Assembly of 1864, Hon. Stanley 
Matthews, from the Committee of Bills and Over- 
tures, reported a paper, which, after various amend- 
ments, was adopted " with, almost entire unanimity," 
and is as follows : 

" Overture No. 12, from the Presbytery of Newton, re- 
citing the former deliverances of the General Assembly 
upon the subject of slavery in this country, and the duty 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



•37 



of emancipation, and asking this General Assembly to take 
such action as in their wisdom seems proper to meet the 
present aspects of human bondage in our country, and rec- 
ommend the adoption of the following : 

"In the opinion of the G-eneral Assembly, the solemn 
and momentous circumstances of our times, the state of 
our country, and the condition of our church, demand a 
plain declaration of its sentiments upon the question of 
slavery, in view of its present aspects in this country. 

"From the earliest period of our church, the General 
Assembly delivered unequivocal testimonies upon this sub- 
ject, which it will be profitable now to reaffirm. 

"In the year 1TS7, the Synod of New York and Phila- 
delphia, in view of movements then on foot looking to the 
abolition of slavery, and highly approving of them, declared 
that ' inasmuch as men introduced -from a servile state to 
a participation of all the privileges of civil society, without 
a proper education, and without previous habits of in- 
dustry, may be, in many respects, dangerous to the com- 
munity, therefore they earnestly recommend to all the 
members belonging to their communion to give these per- 
sons who are at present held in servitude, such good edu- 
cation as to prepare them for the better enjoyment of free- 
dom.' * * * 'And finally they recommend 
it to all their people to use the most prudent measures 
consistent with the interest and the state of civil society in 
the countries where they live, to procure eventually the 
final abolition of slavery in America. ' 

"In 1795, the General Assembly 'assured all the 
churches under their care that they view with the deepest 
concern any vestiges of slavery which may exist in our 
country. ' 

" In 181 5 . the following record was made : ' The General 
Assembly have repeatedly declared their cordial approba- 
tion of those principles of civil liberty which appear to be 
recognised by the Federal and State governments in these 



68 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



United States. They have expressed their regret that the 
slavery of the Africans and of their descendants still con- 
tinues in so many places, and even among those within the 
pale of the church, and have urged the Presbyteries under 
their care to adopt such measures as will secure, at least 
to the rising generation of slaves, within the bounds of the 
church, a religious education, that they may be prepared 
for the exercise and enjoyment of liberty, when God in his 
providence may open a door for their emancipation. ' 

' ' The action of the General Assembly upon the subject of 
slavery in the year 1818 is unequivocal, and so well known, 
that it need not be recited at length. The following ex- 
tracts, however, we regard as applicable to our present 
circumstances, and proper now to be reiterated : 

" 'We consider the voluntary enslaving of one portion of 
the human race by another as a gross violation of the most 
precious and sacred rights of human nature, as utterly in- 
consistent with the law of God, which requires us to love 
our neighbour as ourselves, and as totally irreconcilable 
with the spirit and principles of the gospel of Christ, 
which 'enjoins that all things whatsoever ye would that 
men should do to you, do ye even so to them. ' Slavery 
creates a paradox in the moral system. It exhibits ra- 
tional, moral, and accountable beings in such circum- 
stances as scarcely to leave them the power of moral ac- 
tion. It exhibits them as dependent on the will of others, 
whether they ghall receive religious instruction, whether 
they shall know and worship the true God, whether they 
shall enjoy the ordinances of the gospel, whether they 
shall perform the duties and cherish the endearments of 
husbands and wives, parents and children, neighbours and 
friends ; whether they shall preserve their chastity and pu- 
rity, or regard the dictates of justice and humanity. Such 
are some of the consequences of slavery — consequences not 
imaginary, but which connect themselves with its very ex- 
istence. ***** 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



69 



' ' ' From this view of the consequences resulting from the 
practice, into which Christian people have most inconsist- 
ently fallen, of enslaving a portion of their brethren of 
mankind, . . . it is manifestly the duty of all Chris- 
tians, who enjoy the light of the present day, when the in- 
consistency of slavery, both with the dictates of humanity 
and of religion, has been demonstrated, and is generally 
seen and acknowledged, to use their honest, earnest, and 
unwearied endeavours to correct the errors of former times, 
and as speedily as possible to efface this blot on our holy 
religion, and to obtain the complete abolition of slavery 
throughout Christendom, and if possible throughout the 
world. ' 

"They earnestly exhorted those portions of the church 
where the evil of slavery had been entailed upon them, 
'to continue, and, if possible, to increase their exertions, 
to effect a total abolition of slavery, and to suffer no greater 
delay to take place in this most interesting concern than a 
regard to public welfare truly and indispensably demands;' 
and declare 'that our country ought to be governed in 
this matter by no other consideration than an honest and 
impartial regard to the happiness of the injured party, un- 
influenced by the expense or inconvenience which such a 
regard may involve ; ' warning ' all who belong to our de- 
nomination of Christians against unduly extending this 
plea of necessity ; against making it a cover for the lore 
and practice of slavery, or a pretence for not using efforts 
that are lawful and practicable to extinguish this evil. ' 

' ' Such were the early and unequivocal instructions of our 
church. It is not necessary too minutely to inquire how 
faithful and obedient to these lessons and warnings those 
to whom they were addressed have been. It ought to be 
acknowledged that we have all much to confess and lament 
as to our short-comings in this respect. Whether a strict 
and careful application of this advice would have rescued 
the country from the evil of its condition, and the dangers 



70 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



which have since threatened it, is known to the Omniscient 
alone. Whilst we do not believe that the present judg- 
ments of our Heavenly Father, and Almighty and Right- 
eous Governor, have been inflicted solely in punishment for 
our continuance in this sin; yet it is our judgment that the 
recent events of our history, and the present condition of our 
church and country, furnish manifest tokens that the time 
has at length come, in the providence of God, when it is his 
will that every vestige of human slavery among us should be 
effaced, and that every Christian man should address him- 
self with industry and earnestness to his appropriate part in 
the performance of this great duty. 

"Whatever excuses for its postponement may heretofore 
have existed, no longer avail. When the country was at 
peace within itself, and the church was unbroken, many 
consciences were perplexed in the presence of this great 
evil, for the want of an adequate remedy. Slavery was so 
formidably intrenched behind the ramparts of personal in- 
terests and prejudices, that to attack it with a view to its 
speedy overthrow appeared to be attacking the very exist- 
ence of the social order itself, and was characterized as the 
inevitable introduction of an anarchy worse in its conse- 
quences than the evil for which it seemed to be the only 
cure. But the folly and weakness of men have been the 
illustrations of Grod's wisdom and power. Under the in- 
fluence of the most incomprehensible infatuation of wick- 
edness, those who were most deeply interested in the per- 
petuation of slavery have taken away every motive for its 
further toleration. The spirit of American slavery, not 
content with its defences to be found in the laws of the 
States, the provisions' of the Federal Constitution, the 
prejudices in favour of existing institutions, and the fear 
of change, has taken arms against law, organized a bloody 
rebellion against the national authority, made formidable 
war upon the Federal Union, and in order to found an 
empire upon the corner-stone of slavery, threatens not 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



71 



only our existence as a people, but the annihilation of the 
principles of free Christian government ; and thus has ren- 
dered the continuance of negro slavery incompatible with 
the preservation of our own liberty and independence. 

"In the struggle of the nation for existence against this 
powerful and wicked treason, the highest executive au- 
thorities have proclaimed the abolition of slavery within 
most of the rebel States, and decreed its extinction by 
military force. They have enlisted those formerly held as 
slaves to be soldiers in the national armies. They have 
taken measures to organize the labour of the freedmen, 
and instituted measures for their support and government 
in their new condition. It is the President's declared pol- 
icy not to consent to the reorganization of civil government 
within the seceded States upon any other basis than that 
of emancipation. In the loyal States where slavery has 
not been abolished, measures of emancipation, in different 
stages of progress, have been set on foot, and are near 
their consummation ; and propositions for an amendment 
to the Federal Constitution, prohibiting slavery in all the 
States and Territories, are now pending in the national 
Congress. So that, in our present situation, the interests 
of peace and of social order are identified with the success 
of the cause of emancipation. The difficulties which for- 
merly seemed insurmountable, in the providence of God, 
appear now to be almost removed. The most formidable 
remaining obstacle, we think, will be found to be the un- 
willingness of the human heart to see and accept the truth 
against the prejudices of habit and of interest ; and to act 
towards those who have been heretofore degraded as slaves, 
with the charity of Christian principle in the necessary 
efforts to improve and elevate them. 

" In view, therefore, of its former testimonies upon the 
subject, the General Assembly does hereby devoutly ex- 
press its gratitude to Almighty God for having overruled 
the wickedness and calamities of the rebellion, so as -to 



72 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



work out the deliverance of our country from the evil and 
guilt of slavery ; its earnest desire for the extirpation of 
slavery, as the root of bitterness from which has sprung 
rebellion, war, and bloodshed, and the long list of horrors 
that follow in their train : its earnest trust that the thor- 
ough removal of this prolific source of evil and harm will be 
speedily followed by the blessings of our heavenly Father, 
the return of peace, union, and fraternity, and abounding 
prosperity to the whole land ; and recommend to all in 
our communion to labour honestly, earnestly, and unwea- 
riedly in their respective spheres for this glorious con- 
summation, to which human justice, Christian love, na- 
tional peace and prosperity, every earthly and every reli- 
gious interest, combine to pledge them." — Minutes, p. 296. 



THE END. 



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